The relationship of body mass index with indicators of a person's thermal condition

Introduction. Physiological and anthropometric features of the body are often reflected in the processes of thermoregulation and indicators of the thermal state. Body mass index is an accessible criterion for detecting diseases and can contribute to understanding the causes of individual differences in thermoregulatory reactions.

The study aims to determine the relationship of body mass index with thermoregulatory reactions and indicators of the thermal state of the body.

Materials and methods. Scientists conducted a study with the participation of medical workers in infectious diseases departments and volunteers in modeling the work activities of representatives of various professions. During the study, medical workers and volunteers used personal protective equipment, performed physical and mental labor tasks in acceptable or warming microclimatic conditions. The Pearson correlation between body mass index and the thermal condition of the study participants was evaluated.

Results. The data obtained during the study indicate the presence of an average (from 0.48 to 0.67) or strong (0.94) correlation between body mass index and average hourly moisture loss with sweat and the presence of a negative correlation (–0.39) between body mass index and changes in heat content, which indicates the importance of the anthropometric criterion in the formation of the thermal state. This connection is also confirmed by the literature data of domestic and foreign scientists.

Conclusion. The revealed correlation may indicate the presence of a physiological basis in the formation of the thermal state and contribute to understanding the causes of individual differences in the thermoregulatory reactions of the human body.

Ethics. The study was conducted in compliance with ethical principles and norms, extracts from the minutes of meetings of the local Ethics Committee of the Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health No. 4 dated 05/29/2020, No. 3 dated 03/10/2021, No. 2 dated 03/23/2022, No. 9 dated 11/23/2022 were obtained.

Contributions:
Konyukhov A.V. — research concept and design, data collection and processing, text writing;
Burmistrova O.V. — writing text, editing;
Shuporin E.S. — research concept and design, data collection and processing.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 07.10.2025 / Accepted: 27.10.2025 / Published: 21.11.2025

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