High-density thermal sensitivity maps of the body of people with multiple sclerosis: Implications for inclusive personal comfort systems

Inclusive thermal comfort solutions should accommodate the need of clinical groups such as people with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS), who experience abnormal thermal sensitivity. The aim of this study was to develop high-density body maps of temperature sensitivity in pwMS to inform the design of patient-centred personal comfort systems. Fourteen pwMS (6 M/8 F; 48.6 ± 10.0 y) and 13 healthy individuals (CTR; 5 M/8 F; 47.8 ± 10.4) underwent a quantitative sensory test in a thermoneutral environment, during which they rated their local thermal sensations arising from the application of warm (39°C) and cold (27°C) stimuli to 115 bilateral body sites across the face, torso, upper and lower limbs. We used a z-transformation to create maps of hypo- and hyper-sensitivity for each individual MS participant using normative CTR data. We found that 50% of pwMS (N = 7/14) presented a loss of cold sensitivity over the upper limb, and a loss of warm sensitivity over the feet. Furthermore, 36% of pwMS (N = 5) presented warm hyper-sensitivity over the upper limb. Finally, cold sensitivity loss and warm sensitivity gain were more evenly distributed and affected a greater proportion of skin sites in MS (i.e. cold hypo-sensitivity = 44% of tested sites; warm hyper-sensitivity = 14%) than warm sensitivity loss (i.e. 10%), which was more focused on sites such as the feet. Our findings highlight the need to consider “thermosensory corrective power” when designing personal comfort systems, to accommodate either thermosensory loss or gain in pwMS. Our approach to clinical body mapping may support this process and help meeting the unique thermal needs of vulnerable individuals.