We have evaluated the incoherencies and discrepancies of health messages given by various sources and critically assessed the efficacy of this advice by reviewing current evidence supporting these measures on the basis of observational studies and from the physiology of heat response. [...] Identifying those people for whom air-conditioning may be most advisable, as well as the optimal duration and intensity of cooling, may help in the prescription of air conditioning and avoidance of negative effects of its use in heat-vulnerable persons and for society as a whole. [...] Several sites discourage the use of electric appliances during heat waves to minimize heat and reduce the chance of blackouts, but only the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long- term Care suggests to use a fan instead of air conditioning to conserve energy, while many other sites caution against using a fan to substitute for air conditioning when the temperature is high because it is a less efficie. [...] Based on the scientific evidence, recommendations for the use of air conditioning as part of a public health campaign to mitigate the effects of heat on vulnerable populations are unlikely to run the risk of causing hypothermia or torticollis (as cautioned by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Direction générale de Santé, France, respectively). [...] The physiological basis for either recommending or discouraging the use of a portable electric fan for prevention of heat illness or personal comfort points to both the benefit of augmenting evaporative cooling and an assumption that evaporation of sweat causes harmful levels of dehydration.
- Pages
- 78
- Published in
- Canada
