The falling grace of axillary temperatures

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Clinical Thermometry

Background:

• Accurate temperature measurement is crucial for diagnosing febrile illnesses in children.
• Axillary, oral, and rectal temperatures are commonly used methods for assessing body temperature.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of axillary temperature measurements against rectal and oral temperatures in infants and young children.
• To evaluate the reliability of traditional methods for estimating rectal temperature from axillary or oral readings.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study involving 173 infants and young children.
• Axillary temperatures were measured and compared with concurrent rectal or oral temperature readings.
• Analysis included sensitivity calculations for fever detection and validation of temperature conversion rules.

Main Results:

• Axillary temperatures demonstrated low sensitivity (27.8%) in identifying fever in the febrile group.
• Established formulas for estimating rectal temperature from axillary or oral measurements were validated for mean temperatures in afebrile groups.
• These estimation methods were found to be unreliable for individual temperatures and for febrile group mean temperatures.

Conclusions:

• Axillary temperature measurement is an inadequate method for fever detection in pediatric populations.
• Traditional temperature conversion guidelines are not sufficiently accurate for clinical use in children, especially when fever is suspected.