Study protocol: exploring water intake and hydration status changes in young children in a day care center in different climate scenarios.

backgroundGlobal climate change causes rising of the average temperature as well as an increased number of days with extreme heat, even in the temperate climate of Germany. Children are a particularly vulnerable group according to heat stress and consequentially water loss. Even small changes in the water balance can lead to functional impairments. Therefore, quantification of exact water loss as well as the knowledge of hydration status changes in children under heat stress are important and can contribute to renewing water intake recommendations in accordance with climate change. This may promote approaching public health issues.

methodsIn this study water loss, hydration status data and voluntary water intake of children are collected. Therefore, 3-6 years old children from a German kindergarten are recruited. Weight, urine osmolality and saliva osmolarity are measured twice a day on two different testing days with different temperatures (day 1: hot summer day with heat peak; day 2: fall-like day with neutral temperatures). In-between the tests on each day, the children are exposed to these climate scenarios by playing outside for 2 h just like the usual daily routine. The drinking amount as well as the activity during the observational time is recorded. Additionally, the collected data is compared to previously published data on computed estimation of body core temperature changes and water loss in heat on a theoretically modelled 3-year-old child. DISCUSSION: The weight difference before and after exposure (in dependence of the water intake), provides information about the water loss (thermoregulation) in the observation period. The comparison of newly collected data with modelled water loss can elaborate variations in climate and physiological responses and provide information about, whether the model calculation can be transferred to German conditions. Furthermore, hydration status changes, as reflected by the urine osmolality, are expected to be different between the two test days depending on the extent to which the higher water loss through sweating is compensated by different water intake through voluntary drinking. By means of the collected data, drinking recommendations for children may be aligned and specified in accordance to different climate scenarios. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: German Clinical Trials Register (Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien), DRKS00033942,19th August 2024.