Variations With Age in the Number of Active Palmar Digital Sweat Glands

Mackinnon, P. C. B.

doi:10.1136/jnnp.17.2.124

Cited by 48 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thus the activity of the palmar sweat glands cannot be considered representative of the activity of the 'thermal' glands. If, however, increasing age caused a reduction of activity of 'thermal' glands comparable to that described in the palmar glands by MacKinnon (1954), the heat regulation of older people could be seriously affected.…”

Section: Age and Sweat Gland Activity Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Further, any differences thus detected may not necessarily be due to the influence of age per se but may be affected by the experience that age presumably confers, thereby altering the degree of apprehension regarding the experimental conditions. Thus, for instance, MacKinnon's (1954) younger subjects (schoolboys) may well have considered the recording of impressions on the finger pad a more alarming experience than did her Chelsea pensioners. In our own experiments the degree of apprehension before entry to the chamber was presumably sufficient 137 R. F. HELLON AND A. R. LIND to induce the activity of nearly all available glands.…”

Section: Age and Sweat Gland Activity Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Van der Valk & Groen (1950) found with increasing age (up to 70 years) a regularly increasing skin resistance which they interpreted as a reduction in palmar sweat output. MacKinnon (1954) counted, from plastic impressions, the number of active sweat glands of the finger tips of 123 healthy male subjects of ages ranging from 7 to 96 years, and concluded that there was a continuous reduction in the number of these active glands with increasing age. This reduction was found to be more rapid in the first four decades than in later years.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Observations on the activity of sweat glands with special reference to the influence of ageing

Hellon¹,

Lind²

1956

The Journal of Physiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Age and Sweat Gland Activity Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Age and Sweat Gland Activity Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Observations on the activity of sweat glands with special reference to the influence of ageing

Hellon¹,

Lind²

1956

The Journal of Physiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…

…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The physiological reactions of men of two age groups to a hot environment

Hellon¹,

Lind²,

Weiner³

1956

The Journal of Physiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

MacKinnon (1954) has claimed that advancing age is associated with a great reduction in the number of active sweat glands on the finger pad. If this were true for the eccrine glands of the general body surface, the tolerance of older individuals to hot environments would presumably be adversely affected and demonstrable disturbances in heat regulation might be expected. We have been concerned with this problem because of its significance in coal mining, where older workers may be required to do heavy tasks in hot conditions (Lind, Hellon, Weiner & Jones, 1955). Careful search of the literature revealed only two studies dealing with the relation of age to physiological responses to hot conditions, and these yield only limited information. That by Krag & Kountz (1952) describes the reactions of a small group of males and females of widely different ages (including some patients) to unstandardized tests in a fever cabinet with saturated environments; in the second, by Wiebers (1954), the subjects were exposed to only moderate heat for 20 min. In the investigation reported here two groups of miners, fairly comparable except in age, were required to perform a standardized routine of work and rest in a hot environment for 4 hr. The aim of this exploratory experiment was to discover whether any differences attributable to age could be detected in heat regulatory and circulatory responses. A subsequent investigation dealing with the influence of age on the number of active sweat glands in hot conditions has been reported elsewhere (Hellon & Lind, 1956). METHODSThirty-six subjects were chosen from a large number of volunteers (over 1000 mines-rescue personnel), eighteen in the younger group and eighteen in the older. The range of ages within the groups was 19-31 and 39-45 years, with means of 26 and 43 years. The men were chosen as pairs one younger and one older, so that the members of each pair were of similar mining occupation (there were no sedentary workers) and of approximately the same physique as judged by height

show abstract

“…However, since there is some reason to assume that PSI values decrease with age (MacKinnon, 1954), this variable should be controlled for between-group comparisons.…”

Section: Subjects and Designmentioning

confidence: 99%