Comparison of different methods of temperature measurement in children

摘要

Introduction The consequences of failing to notice fever in children can be serious. On the other hand, false positive reading can result in unnecessary investigation or diagnostic approach. The aim of this study was to compare different ways of body temperature measurement. Material and methods This prospective study was carried out on Pediatric Department of General Hospital in Subotica during 10 months (March-December 2006). In 263 children aged 1 month to 18 years of age, the body temperature was obtained from 4 measurement sites: tactile assessment, forehead and ear by electronic thermometer, rectal temperature in small children (up to 2 years of age) or axillar temperature in older children by mercury thermometer. Tympanic thermometry was considered as a standard for fever detection. Results The sensitivity of rectal temperature to detect fever is 46.67%, while specificity is 92.19%. The sensitivity of fever detection by electronic thermometry on the forehead is lower according to rectal thermometry - 36.08%, while specificity is 95.18%. The lowest values of sensitivity are recorded in axillar thermometry (35.82%), specificity is 90.20%. The correlation coefficient is higher between tympanic and rectal temperature measurement (r=0.5076, p