Liječnički vjesnik, Vol. 138 No. 1-2, 2016.
Original scientific paper
FRONTAL, AXILLARY AND TYMPANIC TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN CHILDREN
Anko Antabak
Jerko Šiško
Ivan Romić
Dino Papeš
Miran Pasini
Damir Halužan
Marko Bogović
Suzana Sršen Medančić
Stanko Ćavar
Tomislav Luetić
Nino Fuchs
Matej Andabak
Ivica Prlić
Selena Ćurković
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the results of body temperature measurements obtained by standard axillary thermometers with the results of infrared tympanic and frontal skin thermometry in afebrile children. This study comprises a single-center, prospective comparison trial. A total of 345 afebrile children aged 4 to 16 years hospitalized in the pediatric surgery department for elective surgery were included. One thousand axillary, tympanic and frontal measurements were obtained and compared. We used two different infrared thermometers in this study; one type measured the tympanic temperature, the other the temperature on the forehead. The axillary temperature measured with the glass thermometer was set as the standard. Each patient was exposed to a constant environmental temperature for a minimum of 10 min before simultaneous temperature measurements. The mean frontal temperature 36.9± 0.38 °C was equal to the axillary temperature 36.9± 0.16 °C. The mean tympanic temperature was 36.3 ± 0.98 °C. The mean difference between the tympanic and axillary temperatures was –0.4 °C. The tympanic temperature had a threefold greater dispersion than frontal and a fivefold greater dispersion than axillary temperature. The results of this study suggest that the axillary temperature measured with glass thermometer has the least dispersion. Somewhat less reliable is the frontal temperature measured with infrared thermometer. The least reliable is tympanic temperature measurement.
Keywords
Body temperature – physiology; Thermography – instrumentation, methods; Thermometry – standards; Infrared rays; Axilla – physiology; Skin temperature – physiology; Tympanic membrane – physiology; Prospective studies
Hrčak ID:
172825
URI
Publication date:
29.2.2016.
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