Development of Practical Measuring Device of Local Cold Tolemnce and Application of Health Assessment of Children

The previous cold water immersion test with finger skin temperature measurement was used to assess vascular response on cold exposure and local cold tolerance. As the test caused severe cold stress, it was thought that the test might be unsuitable to children and elderly people. Therefore we developed a new practical measuring device for local cold tolerance test. Firstly, we showed the reproducibility of the present measuring device under three kinds of contacts pressure and five kinds of thermal condition. Secondly, we compared an index of new practical measuring device with several indices of the previous cold water immersion test. As a result from the comparative analysis, we concluded that an index of new practical measuring device was quite effective and efficient. We also participated in two research projects on health of children or elderly people and investigated various measurement items. In those projects we measured the local cold tolerance of children and elderly people with new practical measuring device.