The December issue of Pediatrics in Review features a review of Environmental Heat Illness in Children, which may raise eyebrows among those caught in the frigid cold wave hitting much of the United States this month.
While it’s true that heat illness is more likely to occur in summer months, many parents and children are unaware it can happen any time of year, and that winter brings its own set of risk factors.
Young children, who are less able to regulate their own body temperatures, are often bundled in winter coats and hats and buckled into car seats in cars with heaters on high. Families travel from very cold climates to vacation in hot, humid climates, their internal thermostats asked to adjust almost immediately. Teen athletes may train in hot indoor environments. Thermal, insulated, and layered winter clothing can make it difficult for the body to sweat. Dehydration, health conditions, medications (and illegal drugs), and obesity are heat illness factors during all seasons.
In addition, Pediatrics in Review is fortunate to be internationally read. This serves as a good reminder to us that we have readers in perennially warmer climates (we see you Arizona, Puerto Rico, and India!), and we have others south of the equator, where summer is now heading into its full force (don’t forget the sunscreen, Australia and Philippines!).
And if it still seems strange to be reading about heat illness in December for you, view it as a gentle reminder that even when it is the darkest and coldest, warmer days are just around the corner.
