WARMING EFFECT OF BLANKETS WITH HIGH FAR-INFRARED EMISSIVITY ON SKIN MICROCIRCULATION IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS

Abstract

Vascular complications are responsible for most of the morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. Effective strategies to improve circulation appear to be another important issue in addition to the interventions of blood glucose control. Previous studies have shown that the biological effects on humans after using the materials containing ceramic particles emits far infrared radiation (FIR). The present study is to investigate the warming effect of the fabrics containing specified metals in diabetic patients. A total of 28 diabetic patients were blinded and randomly assigned to treatment group ([Formula: see text]) and control group ([Formula: see text]), respectively. The subjects of treatment group were ministered with the blankets with fibers containing the specified metals, while the subjects of control group were provided with blankets of ordinary material. The skin temperature and microcirculatory perfusion were monitored before and after 20-min use of the blankets at shoulder and bilateral calves. After warming with blankets, the treatment group revealed a higher increased ratio of skin perfusion than control ([Formula: see text]), while there was no prominent variation on the wavelet spectrum of the perfusion signal. Although it is already a known fact that passive FIR warming has the advantages of safety and convenience, our results suggest that warming by wearing the textiles containing the specified metals with high FIR emissivity is a solution for daily skin care of diabetic patients.