User:Mr. Ibrahem/Heat illness
Medical condition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heat illness is a spectrum of disorders due to environmental exposure to heat.[4] Symptoms vary from clusters of pimples with heat rash; muscle cramps with heat cramps; a brief loss of consciousness with heat syncope; heavy sweating, weakness, headache, and nausea with heat exhaustion; and confusion, seizures, and very high body temperature with heat stroke.[1]
Mr. Ibrahem/Heat illness | |
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Other names | Heat-related illness, heat stress[1] |
Person being cooled with water spray, one of the treatments of heat stroke. In Iraq in 1943. | |
Specialty | Emergency medicine |
Symptoms | Varies by type[1] |
Types | Mild: Heat rash, heat cramps, heat edema Moderate: Heat syncope, heat exhaustion Severe: Heat stroke[1][2][3] |
Causes | Environmental heat[4] |
Risk factors | Other health problems, exercising in the heat, mental illness, alcohol, recently going from a cooler to hotter climate[2][4] |
Differential diagnosis | Infection, thyroid storm, anticholinergic toxicity, neuroleptic malignant syndrome, serotonin syndrome[5] |
Prevention | Air-conditioning[6] |
Treatment | Cooler environment, lying down, wet the skin and clothing, ice packs, fan the person[1] |
Frequency | Common[5] |
Deaths | 650 deaths/yr (USA)[6] |
Risk factors include other health problems, exercising in the heat, mental illness, alcohol, and recently going from a cooler to hotter climate.[2][4] Other types of heat injury included by some sources are heat edema and rhabdomyolysis (muscle breakdown).[1][2]
Prevention is by drinking sufficient fluids, replacing lost salts, and limiting time in the heat.[4] Public air-conditioned facilities are important during heatwaves for people who do not have access at home.[6] Treatment may include working in a cooler environment, lying down, wetting the skin and clothing with cool water, ice packs in the groin and armpits, and fanning the person.[1]
Heat illness is common.[5] It occurs more commonly in the old and the young.[2] It results in about 650 deaths per year in the United States and represents about 7% of deaths that occur in the wilderness.[6][2] Males are more commonly affected than females.[6] It is predicted to become significantly more commonly by 2100.[7]