Hypothermia News and Research

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When exposed to cold temperatures, your body begins to lose heat faster than it can be produced. Prolonged exposure to cold will eventually use up your body’s stored energy. The result is hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. Body temperature that is too low affects the brain, making the victim unable to think clearly or move well. This makes hypothermia particularly dangerous because a person may not know it is happening and won’t be able to do anything about it.

Hypothermia is most likely at very cold temperatures, but it can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.

Antiviral activity of favipiravir against Zika and SARS-CoV-2 in cynomolgus macaques

A new study determines the antiviral efficacy of favipiravir against ZIKV and SARS-CoV-2 infections.

4 Sep 2022

Adding erythropoietin to cooling therapy shows no added benefits for newborns with birth asphyxia

Adding erythropoietin to cooling therapy for term newborns with birth asphyxia has no benefit over cooling therapy alone, a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

14 Jul 2022

Natural immunity weak and short-lived in unvaccinated after Omicron infection

In a recent study posted to the journal Nature, researchers showed that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron infection without SARS-CoV-2 vaccination conferred poor cross-variant neutralizing capacities.

20 May 2022

Research may lead to more effective interventions for hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

One of the most common causes of disability or death in newborns is a lack of oxygen or blood flow in the brain during labor or delivery.

11 May 2022

Women recommended to wait for at least two years after bariatric surgery before trying to conceive

Women who have had weight loss surgery should wait at least two years before trying for a baby, new research presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Maastricht, the Netherlands (4-7 May), suggests.

8 May 2022

Aggressively warming patients during surgery offers no benefit, study says

Patients kept at a body temperature of 37 C during major surgery had no fewer cardiac complications than patients kept at 35.5 C, according to data presented at the American College of Cardiology's 71st Annual Scientific Session.

4 Apr 2022

Prolonged unconsciousness is common in COVID-19 patients, recovery often takes days or even weeks

During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients in intensive care units did not recover consciousness after their breathing tubes were removed and their sedation was stopped, leaving clinicians and families with difficult decisions about whether to continue life-sustaining therapy.

16 Mar 2022

Recovery of consciousness may take weeks for most COVID patients on respirators

Most patients with severe COVID who are put on ventilators regain consciousness after removal of respiratory support, but recovery may take weeks after the period of mechanical ventilation has ended, according to a new study by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Harvard Medical School, NewYork-Presbyterian and Massachusetts General Hospital.

15 Mar 2022

Impact of DNA clearance on mortality in patients with severe COVID-19 infections

In a new study, researchers conducted activity-based proteomic profiling of patients who had severe SARS-CoV-2 infections to understand the impact of DNA clearance on mortality.

28 Jan 2022

Study finds Omicron infection effectively induces immunity against itself and enhances protection against other variants in vaccinated individuals

Researchers investigated the effectiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-variant induced immunity, whether it is cross-protective against other variants, and if earlier infection with the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant offers protection against Omicron.

20 Jan 2022

Rewarming after cooling therapy increases the odds of seizures in oxygen-deprived newborns

Oxygen-deprived newborns who undergo cooling therapy to protect their brains are at an elevated risk of seizures and brain damage during the rewarming period, which could be a precursor of disability or death, a new study by a team of researchers led by a UT Southwestern pediatrician suggests.

19 Oct 2021

People cannot perceive decrease in body temperature when exercising, study finds

In a study published this month in Physiology & Behavior, research teams at the University of Tsukuba, led by Takeshi Nishiyasu, and at Niigata University of Health and Welfare, led by Tomomi Fujimoto, have found that, when exercising, people cannot perceive decreases in their core body temperature caused by the cold as well as they can when they are resting. This research has implications for recreational activities in colder climates, such as hiking and skiing.

20 Aug 2021

Plastic drapes lower the incidence of hypothermia in very low birth-weight neonates

Most babies born prematurely or with health problems are quickly whisked away to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) where they might require assisted heating devices to regulate their temperature.

1 Jul 2021

Clinical trial shows induced hypothermia after cardiac arrest does not improve survival

Since 2005, the guidelines for the care of unconscious cardiac arrest patients have been to cool the body temperature down to 33 degrees Celsius. A large, randomized clinical trial led by Lund University and Region Skåne in Sweden has shown that this treatment does not improve survival. The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

16 Jun 2021

Moderate therapeutic hypothermia does not improve neurological outcomes after cardiac arrest

In patients receiving therapeutic hypothermia after suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, those who were cooled below 31 degrees Celsius (about 88 degrees Fahrenheit) for 24 hours showed no difference in terms of death or poor neurological outcomes at six months compared with patients receiving guideline-recommended cooling of 34 C (about 93 F).

18 May 2021

New low cost, non-electric warmer effectively treats infant hypothermia

Neonatal hypothermia -- which occurs when an infant's core body temperature falls below the normal range needed to maintain health -- contributes to approximately one million deaths each year, and countless cases of stunted growth, almost exclusively in low- and middle-income countries.

7 May 2021

Study highlights the importance of ensuring newborns have close contact with parents during COVID-19

New research from WHO and partners shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is severely affecting the quality of care given to small and sick newborns, resulting in unnecessary suffering and deaths.

16 Mar 2021

Intentional cooling of the body may help improve acute respiratory distress syndrome

A tenth of all intensive care unit patients worldwide, and many critical patients with COVID-19, have acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Therapeutic hypothermia, an intentional cooling of the body, has been suggested as a way to improve ARDS.

23 Feb 2021

Lower diagnostic threshold for fever in older people may help detect COVID-19 cases earlier

Researchers have explored heritable factors, age and body mass on temperature variation between humans. One notable finding is that the current threshold for detecting fever in older adults may be too high, precluding the ability to detect COVID-19 early on

2 Feb 2021

Change in mental status or falls may be misinterpreted as infection in nursing homes

There is a widespread belief that a change in the mental status or an increase in falls in a nursing home resident may indicate an underlying infection.

9 Dec 2020