Revista cubana de medicina militar
Efectos de la ropa de protección médica sobre el estado térmico y salud en estudiantes
By Trung Hoang Nguyen, Minh Tống Đức, Chuyen Nguyen Van and 1 others.
Abstract
Introduction
Full medical personal protective equipment (PPE) may increase thermal strain in the wearer.
Objective
To evaluate the effects of full medical PPE on body thermal status and selected cardiovascular, respiratory, and physical performance indicators in healthy male medical students under simulated hot conditions.
Methods
An experimental study was conducted on 30 healthy male medical students at Vietnam Military Medical University from March 2025 to December 2025.
Results
After exercise, estimated core (sublingual) temperature increased under both conditions and was higher when wearing PPE (Δ = 0.65°C vs. 0.31°C). Mean skin temperature increased by 0.58°C with PPE versus 0.33°C without it, while mean body temperature increased by 0.64°C and 0.31°C, respectively (all p < 0.001). Heat storage was higher in the PPE condition (24.95 ± 6.57 vs 9.82 ± 4.76 kcal/m²; p = 0.010), whereas evaporated sweat and sweat evaporation efficiency were lower. Post-exercise systolic blood pressure was higher and post-exercise trunk pull strength was lower when wearing PPE.