Energy cost of physical task performance in men and women wearing chemicalprotective clothing

Background: Chemical protective clothing (CPC) is required to perform certa in occupations and is known to inhibit physical performance. Few data are a vailable that quantify the physiological response of men and women during t ask performance while wearing CPC. Hypothesis: The mobility of a taste will have a significant effect on the change in energy cost. The energy cost of wearing CPC will be greater in women than men during physical task perform ance. Methods: Energy cost ((V) over dot o(2)) and the psychophysical scale s, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and respiratory distress (RD), were m easured in 32 men and 26 women during the performance of 31 physical tasks. Tasks were categorized by mobility: stationary, intermittent or continuous . Between 6-12 men and 5-13 women conducted each task wearing 2 clothing co nditions: battle-dress uniform (BDU, wt = 3.7 kg) and (CPC, wt = 9.3 kg). R esults: (V) over dot o(2) L . min(-1), was higher in CPC compared with BDU for the continuous task category fur both genders. However, when (V) over d ot o(2) (ml . kg(-1) clothed wt min(-1)) was normalized for clothing weight , there remained a significant clothing effect fur the continuous category, but there were no gender differences. (V) over dot o(2), expressed as % (V ) over dot o(2)max, was significantly increased for BDU compared with CPC F or the continuous task category only. This difference was significantly gre ater For women than men. Women exercised at a higher % (V) over dot o(2)max and reported a higher RPE than men for all categories in both BDU and CPC. Both genders reported higher RD wearing CPC for the continuous task catego ry only. Conclusions: There is an increase in energy cost wearing CPC durin g continuous tasks which can be attributed to both the clothing weight and the hobbling effect. Wearing CPC is more physiologically and psychologicall y demanding for women than men, especially when performing tasks of a conti nuous nature.