Impact of Elevated Temperatures in a Controlled Office Environment on Skin Moisture and Skin Temperature - the HESO Study.

In the HESO study (HEat Strain and performance in Offices at elevated outside temperatures) the impact of elevated temperatures during hot summer periods on office task performance and physiological effects was investigated. The objective of the study is to define instructions for occupational health in office environments. Twenty subjects participated in the study at four days each. The room air temperature was controlled in the ranges 23 26 °C (reference), 29 32
°C and 33 35 °C with the reference temperature repeated once. During each exposure the subjects performed office work as well as selected performance tests. During the exposition of 4.3 hour the skin temperature and skin moisture were measured three times at each subject using a skin thermometer and a corneometer. Nonparametric statistical analysis shows that both skin temperature and skin moisture are significantly higher at elevated room
temperatures. In contrast to skin temperature skin moisture increased during the exposure time at elevated room temperature.

First results of the data analysis imply that skin moisture is a more suitable parameter to characterize physiological effort to elevated temperature conditions than skin temperature. Especially correlations between physiological data, comfort status and results of the performance tests will be investigated.