Reliability of the Infrared and Chemical Dot Temperature Measurement Methods in the Children Admitted in the Pediatric Emergency Unit: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the most comfortable measurement closest to rectal measurement of body temperature, which is the gold standard in measurement of core temperature Design: Prospective study Setting: Ondokuz Maps University Medical Faculty, Department of Pediatrics, Samsun, Turkey Subjects: Temperature measurement was performed by four different methods during same fever period in 354 patients brought to our pediatric emergency unit (PEU) due to complaint of fever. Interventions: This study aimed to determine the best alternative method, compared with rectal measurement, for detecting fever in pediatric patients aged between three months and three years, in whom fever may be the unique finding of an existing serious bacterial infection. Main outcome measures: In each patient; temperature measurement was performed by rectal (RT), axillary (AT), temporal artery (TAT) and tympanic membrane (TMT) methods using digital, chemical dot, and infrared thermometer, respectively. Results: There were 222 male and 132 female patients with a mean age of 19.45 +/- 13.99 months. The area under the curve (AUC) values of AT, TAT and TMT measurements were 0.950, 0.861 and 0.917 (p <0.001, p <0.001 and p <0.001), respectively. Inter Class Correlation (ICC) values of AT, TAT and TMT measurements in the febrile patients compared with rectal temperature were 0.86, 0.67 and 0.79, respectively. AT measurement method had the highest detected sensitivity compared with rectal temperature (85.71). Conclusion: AT measurement method was the most reliable and comfortable measurement method among non-invasive measurement techniques in emergency service applications compared with RT.