[Tympanic thermometer. The left or the right ear?]

One alternative method to use of a mercury thermometer to measure body temperature is the reading of the tympanic temperature with an infrared ray thermometer. The authors evaluate the concordance among the temperatures registered with different infrared thermometers in each ear and in the both ears of the same patient. Tympanic temperature was registered in 147 patients, 76 men and 71 women, between the ages of 5 and 88, using two Firstemp Genius model 3000A thermometers. Each patient had their temperature recorded with both thermometers in each ear. The concordance among the temperatures recorded in the same ear of each patient was calculated according to the Bland and Altman method. The temperature between both ears in each patient was compared using a temperature of 38 degrees C as the reference point to use to calculate the Cohen kappa index and the percentage of disparity. The investigators employed a logistical regression to identify factors which are associated with this disparity. In the same ear, with a different thermometer, the same disparity was produced, 8%, in the right ear as well as in the left. When considering different ears, the Cohen kappa index was 0.70 and the disparity was 11%. The disparity which was produced among the recordings in the same ear using identical thermometers and between the right and left ear readings exceed the limits of chance. The authors recommend that tympanic temperature be registered in the right ear or in both ears in which case the highest reading should be recorded.