Abstract
This study aimed to investigate whether the finger skin temperature (FST) after cold provocation (10 °C, 10 min) is as a useful indicator for assisting in the diagnosis of vibration-induced white finger (VWF) in a group of polishers in a subtropical environment.
Ninety male vibration-exposed metal polishers (30 patients and 60 controls) from the Guangdong Province in Southern China were recruited. The FSTs at 30, 20, 10, and 0 min before cold water immersion (FST
FST
, FST
, and FST
) and 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 min after immersion (FST
, FST
, FST
, FST
, FST
, FST
, and FST
) were measured on the index, middle, and ring fingers of both hands.
During the first 20-min adaptation period, there was a significant increase in FST in three fingers on both hands in the two groups. In contrast, there were no significant differences between FST
and FST
. Furthermore, FST
FST
FST
, and FST
of the three fingers in both hands did not differ significantly. During recovery, the indicators FST
, FST
, R
, and R
for the index finger of the left hand in patients were lower than for the controls. Among the various indicators, the absolute recovery rate, FST
, at 5 min after immersion was identified as the best diagnosis indicator with a sensitivity of 76.7% and specificity of 70.0% when applied to the index finger of the left hand.
The cold water immersion test as applied in a subtropical environment can have a fair discriminating ability for diagnosing VWF.