Baseline body temperatures of patients with myelopathy

In myelopathy patients, baseline body temperatures and effects of common ambient temperatures have not been measured. Oral (OT), rectal (ReT) and room (RmT) temperatures were measured between 5 and 7 A.M. in 46 myelopathy patients (one female) aged 61 +/- 14 (mean +/- 1 standard deviation) who had been paralyzed 20 +/- 12 years. Their levels of paralysis were cervical in 34, dorsal in 11, lumbar in one. OT was 36.2 (97.1 degrees F) +/- 0.6 degrees C and RT 36.7 (98.0 degrees F) +/- 0.6 degrees C, correlation coefficient (r) = 0.723. RmT was 23.9 +/- 1.9 degrees C (75.1 +/- 3.4 degrees F), but RmT did not correlate with ReT, r = 0.088, in spite of a 19 degrees F difference between the extremes of RmT. In conclusion, the early morning body temperature of myelopathy subjects is lower than the generally recognized norm but is unaffected by a moderately wide range of ambient temperatures in a hospital setting.