Indoor Overheating and Physiological Strain in Older Adults With COPD

Brief summary (registry, in English)

During warm weather, homes without air conditioning can stay hot for long periods, and most heat-related health problems in Canada happen indoors rather than outdoors. Health Canada recommends that indoor temperatures not exceed 26 °C in homes occupied by people who are more susceptible to heat. That recommendation is based largely on population-level evidence, and very little is known about how susceptible individuals actually respond, physiologically, when indoor temperatures rise above it. Older adults living with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are among the groups identified as more susceptible to heat. COPD involves persistent airflow limitation, reduced lung and cardiovascular reserve, and altered cellular stress responses. Despite this, no laboratory study has directly measured how adults with COPD respond to a full day spent indoors in warm conditions. This randomized crossover trial will measure how older adults with COPD respond to two different indoor environments, each experienced for eight hours on separate days at least one week apart. One day is spent at the recommended indoor temperature limit and the other at a warmer temperature representative of conditions recorded inside Canadian homes during hot weather. Participants remain seated and rest throughout; no exercise or work is performed. Throughout each day, the research team continuously measures core body temperature, skin temperature, heart rate, and measures blood pressure, lung function, breathlessness, thermal comfort, cognitive performance, and balance at set time points. Blood and urine samples are collected at the start and end of each day. Participants are monitored continuously by trained staff. The results are intended to strengthen the evidence base behind Canadian indoor temperature guidance and to inform recommendations for protecting people living with chronic lung disease during hot weather.

What you commit to

• Study type: Interventional
• Planned participants: 18
• From 13 Oct 2026 to the primary completion date, 31 May 2027
• 1 site in 1 country
• Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.

Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Who the study is looking for

Age in the registry: 60 years to 80 years · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (1)

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