Monitoring of the Bed Time Body Temperature and Body Weight to Prevent the Occurrence of Heat Stroke in the Royal Thai Army Recruits, Lopburi Province, Thailand
Norawee Pumchandh MD*, Vanida Tedsana BNS**, Supak Ngow MSc***, Ram Rangsin MD, Dr PH****, Pote Aimpun MD, Dr PH****, Mathirut Mungthin MD, PhD*****, Nareerut Srilennawat MD******
Affiliation : * The Medical Platoon of the 1st Battalion of the 31st Infantry Regiment, the King’s Guard, Lopburi, Thailand ** Primary Care Unit, Anandamahidol Hospital, Lopburi, Thailand *** Office of Research and Development, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine and Phramongkutklao Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand **** Department of Military and Community Medicine, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand ***** Department of Parasitology, Phramongkutklao College of Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand ****** Department of Emergency, Anandamahidol Hospital, Lopburi, Thailand
Objective : Heat stroke is still an important health problem in Thai army recruits. The authors aimed to evaluate a new method
for preventing heat stroke in the newly army recruits during basic training in May-June 2006, by monitoring the bed time body
temperature and body weight.
Material and Method: One thousand one hundred and fifteen recruits from five army units in Lopburi Province, Thailand
were enrolled in the present study. Standardized questionnaire was used for data collection including unit information,
personal information, environmental information and daily activity information. Bed time body temperature and body weight
were recorded daily. Anyone who had a body temperature > 37.8°C or body weight lossing > 10% in 24 h had to stop training
until these indicators were normal.
Results : There was no incidence of heat stroke in these army units during this training period. There were 191 recruits who
had a body temperature > 37.8°C. The mean duration of the fever was 3.3 + 3.3 days. The incidence of fever was 21.4 per 100
persons-month. There were 30 recruits with the body weight lossing > 10%. The duration of body weight loss was one day.
Analyzed by Mixed Model using STATA program, there was statistically significant difference of the body temperature (p <
0.001) but not the body weight (p = 0.644) among the period of time.
Conclusion : This monitoring of the bed time body temperature and body weight seems to be effective for the prevention of the
occurrence of heat stroke because there was no case of heat stroke in the present study. However, further large-scale study
with a control group should be performed.
Keywords : Heat stroke, Army recruits, Body temperature, Body weight, Prevention
