Abstract

Introduction: Highest incidence of febrile illnesses occur in infancy and early childhood and it is essential to determine body temperature accurately, allowing rapid identification of potentially life threatening conditions. Rectal temperature is considered as ‘Gold standard’ but it is inconvenient. This study was designed to assess and compare the performance of three commercially available thermometers, a digital thermometer for axillary and rectal temperature measurement, a non-contact infrared thermometer for forehead temperature measurement and an infrared tympanic membrane thermometer.

Methods and Materials: It was a descriptive study done in febrile children aged 3 months to 5 years, from September 2016 to February 2017 in Department of Paediatrics, Government Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, Tamil Nadu.

Results: Mean rectal temperature was 38.96^oC ± 0.62^oC. Mean tympanic membrane temperature was 38.80^oC ± 0.64^oC. Mean axillary temperature was 38.04oC ± 0.62oC. Mean forehead temperature was 38.38^oC ± 0.65^oC. The co-efficient of correlation between mean rectal and tympanic membrane temperature was 0.958 and between mean rectal and axillary temperature was 0.907. The co-efficient of correlation between mean rectal and forehead temperature was 0.940.

Conclusion: Children experienced more discomfort during rectal thermometry than with others. Amongst the three method, tympanic membrane temperature closely correlated and reflected the rectal temperature.

Keywords: Tympanic membrane temperature; rectal temperature; axillary temperature, non-contact thermometer.

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