Oxygen consumption and evaporative water loss in infants with congenital heart disease.

The relation between environmental temperature, heat production, oxygen consumption, and evaporative water loss was studied in 67 infants with congenital heart disease. The majority of the cyanosed infants had a low minimum oxygen consumption, a low evaporative water loss, and a diminished metabolic response to cold stress. Minimum oxygen consumption and evaporative water loss rose in 6 of these infants after the construction of a surgical shunt. Many of the ill acyanotic infants had an abnormally high minimum oxygen consumption, and those in cardiac failure often continued to sweat in an environment below the thermoneutral temperature zone.