ASSESSMENT OF CLINICAL EFFICACY OF COOLING GEL PATCH

Abstract

Objective: To determine the efficacy of cooling gel patch in various clinical indications and comparison of cooling gel patch with water spray and cold sponging in fever and heat exhaustion. Study Design: Comparative cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Garrison Medical Centre Okara Cantt, from Sep to Dec 2018. Methodology: A total of 48 male patients, age ranges from 20-40 years were assessed with different clinical indi-cations of cooling gel patch. Patients with fever, heat exhaustion, headache, muscle cramps and toothache were included in this study and patients with acute illness other than fever were excluded. A control group of 20 individuals was also analyzed against fever and heat exhaustion in which water spray and cold sponging was used. Frequency and percentages of each indication were calculated and chi square test was applied. Results: Total of 48 individuals living in plain terrain with various clinical indications of cooling gel patch were assessed. Cooling Gel Patch was tested on 16 sportsmen with heat exhaustion out of which 2 (12.5%) individual had minimal effect whereas control group of 10 showed good response in 8 (80%) sportsmen with water spray and cold sponging with p-value .000578. Six patients with headache and 4 individuals with toothache reported no reduction in symptoms. Two out of 6 patients with muscle cramps reported mild relief in symptoms. Sixteen patients reported with high grade fever and out of these, 12 (75%) individuals showed no reduction in tempera-ture after 4 hours of application. In 4 (25%) cases fall of 1°F was observed after 2 hrs but no further decrease noted from 4-8 hrs whereas control group of 10 individuals showed very good response with water spray and sponging with p-value <.0001. Fourteen (29%) out of 48 reported individuals felt cooling effect for 30 minutes or less. Moreover 4 individuals reported bad/unpleasant odour. Twenty six (54%) out of 48 individuals reported varying degrees of itching/irritation after application of cooling gel patch on the skin. Conclusion: Cooling gel patch is not a preventive/curative modality against fever, headache, toothache, muscle cramps and heat stroke. Water spray and cold sponging is proved to be more affective in patients for temperature lowering and heat exhaustion when compared with cooling gel patch

Keywords

• cooling gel patch
• fever
• heat exhaustion
• muscle cramps
• pain management
• water spray