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Rectal versus axillary temperatures: is there a significant difference in infants less than 1 year of age?

Chris A Stine1, Donna M Flook, Durae L Vincze

  • 1Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. chris.stine@chp.edu

Journal of Pediatric Nursing
|April 25, 2012
PubMed

Insights

Axillary temperatures are not accurate for predicting core body temperature in infants. This study found significant differences between axillary and rectal temperatures in infants under one year old.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Medical Thermometry

Background:

  • Accurate core temperature measurement is crucial for infant care.
  • Existing data on axillary temperature accuracy in infants is limited.
  • Gaps in knowledge exist regarding axillary temperature's reliability in predicting core temperatures.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the accuracy of axillary temperature measurements in predicting core body temperature in infants.
  • To analyze the relationship between rectal and axillary temperatures in infants under one year of age.

Main Methods:

  • A quality improvement project was conducted.
  • 425 paired temperature measurements (axillary and rectal) were collected from 86 infants.
  • Data was gathered from infants admitted to an inpatient pediatric unit over two months.

Main Results:

  • Correlation analysis revealed statistically significant differences between axillary and rectal temperature measurements.
  • Axillary temperatures were found to be an unreliable indicator of core body temperature in this cohort.

Conclusions:

  • The findings highlight inaccuracies in using axillary temperatures for infants.
  • A new standard of care for temperature measurement was developed at the facility based on these results.

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