Ability of Basic Physiological Monitoring to Identify Excessive Occupational Heat Strain

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bernard, Thomas E. ; Ashley, Candi D. ; Uysal, Ismail ; Kenney, W. Larry
• Description:
  Objective: This study assessed the ability of basic physiological metrics to differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable heat strain. Methods: A database of final core temperature (Tre), heart rate (HR), and skin temperature (Tsk) for 880 heat stress trials over a wide range of heat stress and clothing was created. Three case definitions based on Tre, HR, or fatigue were used to classify the trials as cases (unacceptable heat strain) or non-cases (acceptable heat strain). The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC) characterized the discrimination ability of 15 individual physiological metrics. Results: Generally, AUCs ranged from 0.85 allowing acceptable sensitivity with poor specificity to 0.50 with no predictive power. Conclusions: Tre, HR, and fatigue were independent limits of heat strain. A program of personal monitoring needs to recognize independent reasons to classify an exposure as unacceptable.
• Subjects:
  Heat Stress Disorders Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Heat Stress; Physiological Monitoring; Discrimination; Performance; ROC; Wearables Heat Stress; Physiological Measurements; Body Temperature; Heart Rate; Fatigue; Physiological Testing; Monitoring Systems; Wearable Technologies;
• ISSN:
  1076-2752
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Florida ; Pennsylvania ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; Atlanta Region [OSHA] ; Birmingham Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  43 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071179
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Med 2025 Dec; :[Epub ahead of print]
• Email:
  tbernar2@usf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Performing Organization:
  Sunshine Education and Research Center, University of South Florida
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• End Date:
  20290630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:d933df3652286d794ad27a1b2a352cff8d4901587c3c01b1c10fd05e53697da181c2c75b1c54feb6adb4a22288dfb4c625408d8ab507a47513bc5a2bc174acb8
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/257942/cdc_257942_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.02 MB ]