2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of thermoregulatory function in children and its application to the prevention of heat-related illness

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	20K20515
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Pioneering)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Medium-sized Section 9:Education and related fields
Research Institution	Niigata University
Principal Investigator	Amano Tatsuro 新潟大学, 人文社会科学系, 准教授 (60734522)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	細川由梨早稲田大学, スポーツ科学学術院, 准教授 (30822829) 檜皮貴子新潟大学, 人文社会科学系, 准教授 (50463948) 井上芳光大阪国際大学, その他部局等, 名誉教授 (70144566) 国正陽子新潟大学, 人文社会科学系, 助教 (20804355)
Project Period (FY)	2020-07-30 – 2024-03-31
Keywords	発達 / 熱中症 / 汗腺 / イオントフォレーシス / 体水分 / 尿浸透圧 / 教育動画 / 汗の役わり
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study was conducted to elucidate the developmental process of autonomic and behavioral thermoregulation and to develop educational materials to prevent heat-related illness in children. The main findings were that 1) the development of sweat gland function as an autonomic thermoregulatory sytem was clarified from pharmacological sweating tests on 450 subjects aged 6-23 years; 2) the hydration characteristics of children were clarified; 3) children's awareness of drinking water was clarified; 4) about behavioral thermoregulation, children were unable to identify their hydration status from urine color; 5) the newly-developed educational movies about fluid intake and the importance of sweating was validated for its effectiveness in children. These findings were analyzed by different age groups to verify how the developmental process influences the outcomes.
Free Research Field	環境生理学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	子どもの熱中症は学校現場の深刻な課題の一つになっている。子どもの熱中症予防の難しさは，子どもの自律性体温調節機能や熱中症の予防行動を引き起こす判断力や行動性体温調節の発達が年齢や個人によって大きく異なることがある。また，地域，あるいは究極的には同じ地域でもその子どもがいる局所によって，熱中症リスクは変わってくる。これらの問題を解決するためには，子どもの自律性や行動性の体温調節機能の発達過程を明らかにしたり，子どもが自分自身で熱中症予防行動を惹起する教育教材の開発が重要となる。本研究はこれらの課題について一定の進歩を得たことから，社会的・学術的に大きな意義があると考えられる。