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• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

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Summary

Cold weather can affect your body in different ways. You can get frostbite, which is an injury to the body that is caused by freezing. Your body can also lose heat faster than you can produce it. That can cause hypothermia, or abnormally low body temperature. It can make you sleepy, confused, and clumsy. Because it happens gradually and affects your thinking, you may not realize you need help. That makes it especially dangerous. A body temperature below 95 °F (35 °C) is a medical emergency and can lead to death if not treated promptly.

Anyone who spends much time outdoors in cold weather can get hypothermia. You can also get it from being cold and wet, or under cold water for too long. Babies and old people are especially at risk. Babies can get it from sleeping in a cold room.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Start Here

• Cold Weather Safety for Older Adults (National Institute on Aging) Also in Spanish
• The Hazards of Hypothermia: Stay Warm in Cold Weather (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Avoid Frostbite and Hypothermia (National Safety Council)
• Cold Stress Can Be Prevented (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
• Preventing Hypothermia (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish

Treatments and Therapies

• Hypothermia: First Aid (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Working in the Cold (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Hypothermia (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Predictive value of qSOFA and hypothermia combined with PT for prognosis...
• Article: Assessment of early neonatal practices to prevent hypothermia ; A comparative...
• Article: Hypothermic cardiac arrest: prognostic factors for successful resuscitation before rewarming.
• Hypothermia -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• National Center for Environmental Health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Also in Spanish
• National Institute on Aging Also in Spanish
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Older Adults

• Safety Tips for Exercising Outdoors for Older Adults (National Institute on Aging) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• How to prevent frostbite and hypothermia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Hypothermia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish