Consensus document on the management of patients with accidental hypothermia from the Spanish Society of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Pain Management (SEDAR), the Spanish Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Critical Care and Coronary Units (SEMICYUC), and the Spanish Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMES).

Robert Blasco Mariño, Eduard Argudo, Iñigo Soteras Martínez, Manuel Luis Avellanas Chavala, Manuel Pons Claramonte, Javier Rius, Laura Martín Sánchez, Asier Pinillos Alonso, Duilio González-Delgado, Jesús Abelardo Barea Mendoza, Carlos Pérez Fernandez, Michelle Laurens Acevedo

Emergencias · 2026-08-01 · Guideline / consensus

Read at publisher · PubMed

Abstract

Accidental hypothermia is an underdiagnosed condition with a significant impact on public health. With the aim of providing the basis for a comprehensive care framework, 12 panelists from 3 Spanish scientific societies (SEDAR, SEMES and SEMICYUC) developed this multidisciplinary consensus document. Through a systematic search and the final synthesis of 281 articles including 1,704,632 patients, 37 recommendations were developed through a 2-round Delphi process, distributed across 8 application domains based on the organization of a rescue chain: prehospital prevention, initial evaluation, management and transport, hospital detection, care of the polytraumatized patient, hospital rewarming, cardiac arrest, and resuscitation. Robust consensus among panelists (>75% agreement) and excellent internal consistency (ω = 0.913) were achieved, providing a solid document that may serve as a basis for the implementation of standardized protocols.