MONITORING BODY TEMPERATURE WHEN EXPOSED TO THERMAL STRESS

Physiotraq introduces Coretraqer®: its unique solution specifically designed for athletes, workers and personnel exposed to severe thermal stress.

Coretraqer®’s founding principle:
Accurate core temperature measurement is essential for on-site diagnosis and treatment of hyperthermia and hypothermia

Climate change is causing a constant increase in global temperature and heat exposure, so is the risk of classic and exertional heat stroke

Heat Stroke: a life-threatening medical emergency:

✔ Core body temperature above 40°C

✔ Central nervous system dysfunction

✔ Rapid deterioration without immediate cooling

Accurate core temperature measurement is key:

✔ Surface or skin temperature measurement are unreliable to diagnose heat stroke

✔ Only core temperature provides reliable clinical information

Consequences of poorly-managed heat strokes

Deaths:

✔ 24,400 deaths attributed in 2025 to heat across 854 European cities

✔ Cities with the highest standardized mortality rates: Rome (835 deaths), Athens (630), Paris (409).

Costs and Liability:

✔ 1 Poorly managed heat‑stroke costs € 50,000–€100,000 in a public system (France):

✔ Two weeks in Intensive Care Unit: Multi-Organ Failure: Ventilation, Organs Support

✔ 1 post Heat Stroke Liver Failure and Transplant: Lifetime burden: €200,000 – €500,000 / patient

✔ Liability of Employers & Sports organizations

✔ Inflated health costs for insurers (public and private)

Guglielmi G. (2025) Summer 2025 is roasting hot: charts show why it matters – Nature News in Focus, Vol 644, pp 586-588.

Climate change is causing rapidly changing extreme weather conditions, increasing the risk of exposure to hypothermia, especially in remote environments.

Hypothermia is also a life-threatening medical emergency:

✔ Core body temperature below 35°C

✔ Altered mental status

✔ Fatal outcome without rapid diagnosis and controlled rewarming

Monitoring core body temperature during hypothermia

Accurate core temperature measurement is key:

✔ Surface or skin temperature measurement are unreliable to diagnose hypothermia

✔ Only core temperature provides reliable clinical information

Consequences of poorly-managed hypothermia

Incidence & Risk Context (Outdoor, Mountain, Remote Environments):

✔ Accidental hypothermia occurs in a wide range of outdoor sports and remote activities such as ultra-endurance events, mountaineering, trekking, hiking, off-piste skiing, and wilderness recreation. It results from prolonged exposure to cold air, wind, water immersion, or exhaustion in remote settings.

✔ In recreational mountain environments, hypothermia risk increases markedly:

When physical exhaustion, injury, or trauma impairs thermoregulation
At high altitudes with wind chill effects
During off-trail or backcountry events where exposure duration is longer and shelter is limited

Costs and Liability:

✔ Hospital treatment of severe accidental hypothermia (including rewarming procedures, intensive care) is resource-intensive: a European case series reported ≈ €12,000 per case in total hospital cost when advanced therapies (like CEC/ECMO rewarming + ICU care) were used. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30203539/

Employer & Event Liability:

✔ Employers and event organizers exposed to cold environments (remote worksites, outdoor events, competitive races) face:

Regulatory compliance costs (OHS measures, worker monitoring systems, training)
Potential liability for inadequate protection against cold stress
Insurance premium impacts when cold injuries or hypothermia necessitate claims
This mirrors recognized obligations in heat stress but adapted to cold hazard profiles. (European/OSHA frameworks apply acute protections for cold workplaces similar to heat, though specific economic quantification is sparse in literature.)