Comparative Thermoregulatory Responses of Negroes and White Persons to Acute Cold Stress

¹ From the Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory, APO 731, Seattle, Washington

Eight white and eight Negro combat infantrymen stationed at Fairbanks, Alaska, were subjected to an acute cold test during the summer and winter seasons of 1955–1956. The cold test consisted of lying supine at an air temperature of –12°C with hands and fingers bare. Clothing was worn otherwise. Skin, rectal and digital temperatures and oxygen consumption were continually recorded during the cold exposure. Body heat debt during the tests was the same for both groups during each season. The fingers of the Negro subjects cooled significantly more than those of the white subjects and cold vasodilatation was rare among the Negroes. The rise in metabolism during cold exposure was significantly less in the Negro group. No seasonal effect on these responses was observed. Possible relation of these facts to operational efficiency in a cold environment and to local cold injury are discussed.

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