Revisiting regional variation in the age‐related reduction in sweat rate during passive heat stress

Abstract

Aging is associated with attenuated sweat gland function, which has been suggested to occur in a peripheral‐to‐central manner. However, evidence supporting this hypothesis remains equivocal. We revisited this hypothesis by evaluating the sweat rate across the limbs and trunk in young and older men during whole‐body, passive heating. A water‐perfused suit was used to raise and clamp esophageal temperature at 0.6°C (low‐heat strain) and 1.2°C (moderate‐heat strain) above baseline in 14 young (24 (SD 5) years) and 15 older (69 (4) years) men. Sweat rate was measured at multiple sites on the trunk (chest, abdomen) and limbs (biceps, forearm, quadriceps, calf) using ventilated capsules (3.8 cm2). Sweat rates, expressed as the average of 5 min of stable sweating at low‐ and moderate‐heat strain, were compared between groups (young, older) and regions (trunk, limbs) within each level of heat strain using a linear mixed‐effects model with nested intercepts (sites nested within region nested within participant). At low‐heat strain, the age‐related reduction in sweat rate (older‐young values) was greater at the trunk (0.65 mg/cm2/min [95% CI 0.44, 0.86]) compared to the limbs (0.42 mg/cm2/min [0.22, 0.62]; interaction: p = 0.010). At moderate‐heat strain, sweat rate was lower in older compared to young (main effect: p = 0.025), albeit that reduction did not differ between regions (interaction: p = 0.888). We conclude that, contrary to previous suggestions, the age‐related decline in sweat rate was greater at the trunk compared to the limbs at low‐heat strain, with no evidence of regional variation in that age‐related decline at moderate‐heat strain.