The use of infrared thermometry for the detection of fever

British Journal of General Practice

Alastair D Hay¹  Tim J Peters¹  Andrew Wilson¹  Tom Fahey¹ 

[1] Division of Primary Health Care, University of Bristol

关键词: body temperature;    children;    cough;    fever;    preschool;    thermometers;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：卫生学

来源: Royal College of General Practitioners

【 摘 要 】

The use of tympanic thermometry is attractive in primary care, but a recent systematic review highlighted the paucity of data comparing tympanic thermometry with conventional methods. We report a study of 94 preschool children presenting to primary care in the United Kingdom (UK) with acute cough in whom tympanic infrared and axillary mercury thermometry are compared. Infrared thermometry showed poor agreement, poor sensitivity and high specificity. Infrared thermometry is too insensitive to be used as a screening test for fever, but when fever is already suspected, for example by touch, it may be useful as a ‘rule in’ test.

【 授权许可】

Unknown