Active clinical trials for "Heat Exhaustion"

Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is the most serious form of heat-illness that can occur during sports and exercise. If not recognized and treated immediately mortality rate of EHS is high. Early recognition and initiation of cooling are paramount. If temperature is reduced to < 40°C within 30 minutes of symptom onset, most patients recover completely. There are several strategies for cooling in EHS, including cooling with rotating in ice water soaked towels which cover the body of a patient. The aim of this research is to investigate the effectiveness and safety of treatment of EHS with ice water soaked towels to lower body temperature.

A common tool to cool people in the pre-hospital setting is the chemical ice pack. These are used by athletic trainers, EMS personnel, ER staff, and people in the prehosoital setting. The ability of these to cool a person has never been quantified, the efficiency and extent of cooling, as well as location of placement of ice packs is purely anecdotal. The purpose of this study is to determine whether strategically placed chemical ice packs will provide benefit to individuals subjected to heat stress.

Investigators propose an intervention trial of a comprehensive education and treatment bundle designed to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with heat-related illness for low resource settings. Two set of interventions will be developed each for emergency department and for community/home. These interventions will be developed by an internal expert group and will be customized and implemented at the home and emergency department (ED) levels, will include evidence-based educational training guidelines for ED health providers as well as educational messages targeting home and community in Karachi, Pakistan.