Outdoor clothing: its relationship to geography, climate, behaviour and cold-related mortality in Europe

It has been suggested, that the inhabitants of northern European regions, w ho experience little cold-related mortality, protect themselves outdoors by wearing more clothing, at the same temperature, than people Living in sout hern regions where such mortality is high. Outdoor clothing data were colle cted in eight regions from 6583 people divided by sex and age group (50-59 and 65-74 years). Across Europe, the total clothing worn las assessed by dr y thermal insulation and numbers of items or layers) increased significantl y with cold, wind, less physical activity and longer periods outdoors. Men wore 0.14 clo(1 clo=0.115 m(2) K W-1) more than women and the older people wore 0.05 do more than the younger group (both P<0.001). After allowance fo r these factors, regional differences in insulation and item number were co rrelated (r=-0.74, P=0.037; r=-0.74, P=0.036 respectively), but not those i n clothing layers (r=-0.21; P=0.61), with indices of cold-related mortality . Cold weather most increased the wearing of gloves, scarves and hats. The geographical variation in the wearing of these three together items more cl osely matched that in cold-related mortality (r=-0.89, P=0.003). A possible explanation for this may be that they protect the head and hands, where st imulation by cold greatly increases peripheral vasoconstriction causing a r ise in blood pressure that procedure haemoconcentration and raised cardiova scular risk.