Effect of test-room temperature on percentage finger systolic blood pressure assessing peripheral vascular function for diagnosing hand-arm vibration syndrome

Evaluation of percentage finger systolic blood pressure (%FSBP) in response to cold provocation assessing vascular components of the hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) is under discussion for standardization in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/CD 14835- Part 2: Measurement and evaluation of FSBP). In the present study, we examined the effect of test-room temperature on %FSBP. Three healthy young subjects volunteered for the study. The test-room temperature was set at 21±1℃ for the first day and at 25±1℃ for the other day. The subjects wore light indoor clothing and were habituated to the test environment for 30 min before measurements began. The FSBP measurements were done using HVLab Multi-Channel Plethysmograph simultaneously in four test fingers sequentially cooled at 30, 15 and 10℃ and the thumb was used as a reference (not cooled) while the subjects were in sitting posture during the whole session keeping the wrist of the right hand straight with the forearm and hand supported, and the %FSBPs for the test fingers at 15 and 10℃ cuff-water temperatures under both test-room temperatures were calculated. The %FSBPs at 21±1℃ test-room temperature were larger than those at 25±1℃ test-room temperature; however, only the difference for the little finger at 15℃ cuff-water temperature was statistically significant using two-way ANOVA. The test-room temperature factor for overall data at 15℃ cuff-water temperature was statistically significant using three-way ANOVA. The test-room temperature factor for overall data at 10℃ cuff-water temperature was not statistically significant using three-way ANOVA; however, the subject factor was significant. For assessing vascular components of the HAVS by FSBP estimation in response to cold provocation, further study is needed to investigate in-depth the effect of test-room temperature on %FSBP for standardization purpose.