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Validity of ten analytical heat stress indices in predicting the physiological parameters of people under various occupational and meteorological conditions

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Abstract

Until now, only a few comprehensive studies have validated analytical heat stress indices in different conditions. The present study aims to investigate the validity of these indicators in predicting the physiological parameters of workers. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 194 male employees working in warm environments. First, demographic information was collected. After participants rested for 30 min, their heart rate and tympanic temperature were measured. The subjects then performed their routine tasks. At the end of 90 min, their heart rate and tympanic temperature were again measured. Additionally, their metabolism rate and clothing thermal insulation were estimated. Environmental parameters were also measured at 30-, 60-, and 90-min time points. Additional information required to compute the indices was recorded. Then, the values of each of the indices were computed. Finally, the validity of the indices was assessed under different conditions. The results indicated that the highest regression coefficients with tympanic temperature were assigned to modified physiologically equivalent temperature (mPET) (0.7515), predicted heat strain (PHS) (0.7201), and predicted mean vote (PMV) (0.7082), index, respectively. Also, the greatest regression coefficients with heart rate belonged to mPET (0.7773), PMV (0.7624), and PHS (0.6479) index, respectively. Based on the results, the highest diagnostic accuracies of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for tympanic temperature were related to indices of mPET, PHS, and PMV with the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.945, 0.931, and 0.930, respectively. Of the studied indices, it was observed that mPET, PHS, PMV, and PPD showed more validity compared to others.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Researchers need to thank all workers who have participated in this study.

Funding

This research was supported by the Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran

    Milad Abbasi

  2. Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Farideh Golbabaei

  3. Modeling in Health Research Center, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

    Saeid Yazdanirad

  4. School of Health, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

    Saeid Yazdanirad

  5. Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

    Habibollah Dehghan

  6. Modeling in Health Research Center and School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran

    Ali Ahmadi

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  1. Milad Abbasi
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Correspondence to Saeid Yazdanirad.

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Abbasi, M., Golbabaei, F., Yazdanirad, S. et al. Validity of ten analytical heat stress indices in predicting the physiological parameters of people under various occupational and meteorological conditions. Int J Biometeorol 68, 163–177 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02580-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-023-02580-7

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