The Effect of Cold Exposure on Cognitive Performance in Healthy Adults: A Systematic Review
Falla M, Micarelli A, Hüfner K, Strapazzon G
International journal of environmental research and public health · 42 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Systematic review (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
Publication
- Published
- 2021-09-15 · Int J Environ Res Public Health · vol. 18 · issue 18 · p. 9725
- Publisher
- Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
- Cited
- 67 citations · more than 68% of similar papers · 1.0× the field average
- References
- 36 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Climate Change and Health Impacts · Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity Research
- Keywords
- PsycINFO, Cognition, Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, MEDLINE, Medicine, Systematic review, Working memory, Scopus, Clinical psychology, Psychology, Psychiatry
- MeSH
- humans, cognition, attention, acclimatization, adult, executive function, cognitive dysfunction
4 authors
From IT, AT
- Marika Falla · correspondingEurac Research; University of Trento; Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine
- Alessandro MicarelliEurac Research; Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine
- Katharina HüfnerInnsbruck Medical University
- Giacomo Strapazzon · correspondingEurac Research; Institute of Mountain Emergency Medicine
Abstract
Several aspects of cognition can be affected after cold exposure, but contradictory results have been reported regarding affected cognitive domains. The aim of the current systematic review was to evaluate the effects of specific cold exposure on cognitive performance in healthy subjects. A systematic search was performed using MEDLINE (through PubMed), EMBASE (Scopus) and PsycINFO databases according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Inclusion criteria were healthy subjects exposed to a cold environment (either simulated or not) and cognitive performance related to cold exposure with an experimental design. The literature search identified 18 studies, eight studies investigated the effect of cold air exposure and ten the effect of cold water immersion on cognitive performance of healthy subjects. There were several differences among the studies (environmental temperature reached, time of exposure, timing, and type of cognitive test administration). Cold exposure induced in most of the experimental settings (15 of 18) an impairment of CP even before accidental hypothermia was established. The most investigated and affected cognitive domains were attention and processing speed, executive function, and memory. Gender differences and effects of repeated exposure and possible acclimation on cognitive performance need further studies to be confirmed.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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