Comparative Analysis of Thermovision Images of Healthy Young Men with Different Terms of Adaptation to Conditions of the North

Abstract

Introduction. The correlation between skin temperature and cutaneous blood flow is a factor that influences thermal imaging of the body in response to thermoregulation. The objective of our study was to identify features of thermal images of young male permanent residents of the Russian North belonging to different generations. Materials and methods. Thermography was carried out using a thermal imaging camera (FLIR SC620 thermal imager, Sweden), providing long-wave (7.5–13 μm) imaging with a thermal sensitivity of 0.1 °С. Quantitative analysis of thermovision images was performed for eight sites of the body captured from the front and back in a sitting position. We examined 90 young healthy men aged 17 to 21 years, permanently residing in the Magadan Region. Depending on the duration of adaptation to extreme conditions of the North, all subjects were divided into four groups: adapting migrants (“zero generation”) and those born in the North in the first, second and third generations. Results. We established a significant increase in skin temperature at all measured body sites in the series from adapting migrants (“zero generation”) to the natives in the first to third generation. The maximum differences were observed for the average temperature of the forehead, abdomen, and lower back, reaching 0.97, 1.04, and 0.98 °C, respectively. It should be noted that the young men of the city of Magadan had a higher average skin temperature than those living in optimal climatic and geographical conditions of Central Russia and Eastern Europe. The smallest difference (0.43 °С) was registered for breast temperature between the migrants and representatives of the third generation. Conclusions. Our findings prove compensatory and adaptive physiological changes occurring in the body over time to reduce adverse effects of the cold environment. This reorganization of the body is achieved through optimization of the thermoregulatory mechanism and changes in vegetative skin vasomotor responses.