Affective response to whole-body cryotherapy: Influence of sex, body mass index, age, time of day, and past experience
Authors: G Polidori
F D Legrand
F Beaumont
B Bouchet
F Bogard
Y Blancheteau
Journal: Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2020)
Discipline: CLINICAL MEDICINE
Keywords: BMI; Gender; Past experience; Pleasure-displeasure; Whole-body extreme cold exposure.
Affiliations: Cognition Health and Society, C2S (EA6291), University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France. Electronic address: ., UFR Sciences Exactes et Naturelles, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France., Cryotera, Bezannes, France., Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Clinalliance, Villiers-sur-Orge, France.

Abstract:  Objective: Whole-Body Cryotherapy (WBC) has seen a recent surge in popularity with patients with inflammatory conditions, athletes, and even people seeking to improve general health and quality of life. WBC treatment usually requires participation in a dozen of 3-min long sessions. But compliance is considered difficult due to possible cold-induced unpleasant sensations. Based on hedonic psychology assumptions, ratings of pleasure-displeasure experienced during a taks or activity may be important to understand individual differences in attendance. Methods: Two hundred fifty nine customers from two French cryocenters took the Feeling Scale immediately after their first WBC session. Results: End affect appeared to be negatively valenced (M = -1.85, SD = 1.38, 95 % confidence interval: -2.02 to -1.68). Additional statistical analyses revealed a moderating influence of past experience, in women only. Similarly, BMI was found to be negatively associated with displeasure in women, but not in men. Conclusion: These findings are discussed and further research directions are suggested. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
 **Preliminary note:** Another article from one of the authors was retracted because the study did not obtain an approval from a Comitu00e9 de Protection des Personnes (CPP) before to start. Which is a serious breach to the French Health Law related to research in humans. In France, CPPs are the only IRBs that can approve prospective researches in human. **Comment on this study:** The ethics statement mentions that : * All participants provided a written informed consent and the study was conducted in line with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration and its following amendments.  * The study has been done on healthy volunteers. And this statement describes a prospective research in humans. In France, all prospective research in humans intended to increase the knowledge in sciences must obtain an approval from a CPP before to start. This type of study MUST obtain an approval from a CPP before to start the recruitment. But the article do not mention any CPP approval before to start. As a reminder, the lack of CPP approval is a serious breach to the French Health Law related to research in humans and it could be a cause for the retraction of the article. Furthermore, the Declaration of Helsinky (article 23) requires to obtain an ethics approval for all study in humans and to be in compliance with the local law. The ethics statement don t provide enough details to ensure the study is in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. As a consequence, can the author detail the ethics procedure and confirm that a CPP approval have been obtained prior to the study. If not, can the author confirm a CPP approval has been requested first and detail the answer of the CPP (request number, date of CPP answer, name of the CPP that provide the answer, etc...). Editor should review the ethical procedure in order to ensure there is no breach with the french law and the Declaration of Helsinki. Otherwise, the statement related to the conflict of interest does not mention any conflict. However, one of the author is affiliated to the company Cryotera, and the healthy volunteers were recruited among non-patients customers of two whole-body cryotherapy centers. One is center is Cryotera. It seems it is a financial interest here which may have been reported in this statement. ,