Sex differences in heat stress vulnerability among middle-aged and older adults (PSU HEAT Project)
Olivia K. Leach, Rachel M. Cottle, Kat G. Fisher, S. Tony Wolf, W. Larry Kenney
2024American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology20 citationsDOIOpen Access PDF
Abstract
In contrast to young adults, there are sex differences in critical environmental limits in middle-aged and older adults. Older women exhibit lower critical environmental limits in both humid and dry extreme environments demonstrated by a leftward shift in heat compensability curves. These data confirm a true sex difference in heat vulnerability of older adults and support the epidemiological mortality data from environmental heat waves.
Topics & Concepts
Heat stressVulnerability (computing)Heat wavePsychologyGerontologyDemographyMedicineAtmospheric sciencesSociologyOceanographyGeologyComputer scienceClimate changeComputer securityClimate Change and Health ImpactsThermoregulation and physiological responsesSpaceflight effects on biology