Comparison of cold immersion tests with water at 12c and 10 ° c for 5 minutes in diagnosing vibration-induced white finger

The diagnostic performances of two different cold provocation tests were compared with water immersion at 12°C and 10°C for 5 mm in distinguishing vibration-induced white finger (VWF). The cold water immersion tests were conducted on 26 male patients diagnosed with VWF, and 27 healthy male controls who did not regularly use hand-held vibrating power tools, using the protocol of ISO 14835-1:2005. The baseline and during immersion values of finger skin temperature (FST) did not differ signficantly between the patient and control groups under any immersion condition. During recovery at 95% specificity, the sensitivity ranged from 15% to 45% and 15% to 35% for the 12°C and 10°C immersion conditions, respectively. The paired AUCs for the two different immersion conditions did not differ significantly at any time before, during, or after immersion.