Exertional heat stroke in athletes and soldiers van den Bersselaar, Luuk R; Bongers, Coen C W G; Eijsvogels, Thijs M H ...
Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde,
08/2020, Volume:
164
Journal Article
Exertional heat stroke (EHS) is a medical emergency characterized by life-threatening hyperthermia and central nerve system dysfunction during or directly after exercise. Early recognition and ...aggressive cooling reduces morbidity and mortality of patients with EHS. Therefore, all health care professionals involved in acute care should immediately recognise EHS and start cooling with cold water immersion as soon as possible. Most EHS occur in young and healthy individuals without a medical history, such as athletes or soldiers. We report the case of EHS in a 26-year-old man without a medical history. He suffered from EHS during a military admission test. A few years later he had a second EHS during military training. This time, the EHS was complicated by compartment syndrome, rhabdomyolysis, acute kidney injury and epilepsy. He fully recovered from both EHS episodes. Muscle histology, whole exome sequencing and heat tolerance tests did not show any abnormalities.
Physical activity is an important component in the maintenance and improvement of general health; physical inactivity is, however, an increasing problem in the Netherlands. Requests for advice on ...physical activity are increasing within the healthcare. Assessment of an individual's physical activity pattern is required to provide tailored advice. There are a number of methods for measuring physical activity; these are divided into subjective and objective methods. Subjective measures include physical activity questionnaires and diaries. Objective measures include indirect calorimetry, measurement with doubly labelled water, heart-rate monitoring and the use of an accelerometer or pedometer. The choice of method depends predominantly on the aim of the measurement, and the availability of personnel, time and financial resources. In clinical practice a validated questionnaire is usually the preferred method, but when measuring effects this should be combined with an objective measurement instrument.