![Sample our Health and Social Care journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5938/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Health-Social-Care.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Purpose: To investigate hypothermia and its potential association with core and outdoor temperatures in adolescents suffering from acute alcohol intoxication. Methods: Data were derived from the Dutch Pediatric Surveillance System, which monitors alcohol intoxication among all Dutch adolescents. Adolescents < 18 years of age with a positive blood alcohol concentration (BAC > 0 g/l) were included. This resulted in an analysis of data from the years 2011 to 2015 that were obtained through a total of 967 questionnaires. Results: This study revealed small but significantly lower core temperatures in winter time (35.59°C [96.06°F]) versus summer time (35.83°C [96.49°F]). These differences could not be attributed to the genders and ages of the patients. In winter time, 26.6% of the adolescents experienced mild hypothermia, with body temperatures of 32.00–34.99°C (89.60–94.98°F), compared to 18.0% during the summer. Although not significant, amounts of time spent in reduced consciousness, hospitalized and receiving intensive care were prolonged in adolescents with lower core temperatures. Conclusions: This article is the first to describe this trend of hypothermia among alcohol-intoxicated Dutch adolescents admitted during winter time. These findings are important for awareness of this issue and can be used for prevention strategies in the future.
Acknowledgments
We thank NSCK for facilitating the data collection. We also thank all of the participating Dutch pediatricians who contributed to this study by sharing their patient data.