Publication: Comparability of tympanic and oral mercury thermometers at high ambient temperatures
Issued Date
2012-11-22
Resource Type
ISSN
17560500
Other identifier(s)
2-s2.0-84869156961
Rights
Mahidol University
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
BMC Research Notes. Vol.5, (2012)
Suggested Citation
Amy L. Chue, Rachael L. Moore, Andrew Cavey, Elizabeth A. Ashley, Kasia Stepniewska, François Nosten, Rose McGready Comparability of tympanic and oral mercury thermometers at high ambient temperatures. BMC Research Notes. Vol.5, (2012). doi:10.1186/1756-0500-5-356 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/13572
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Authors
Journal Issue
Thesis
Title
Comparability of tympanic and oral mercury thermometers at high ambient temperatures
Other Contributor(s)
Abstract
Background: Body temperature can be measured in seconds with tympanic thermometers as opposed to minutes with mercury ones. The aim of this study was to compare tympanic and oral mercury thermometer measurements under high ambient field temperatures. Results: Tympanic temperature (measured thrice by 3 operators) was compared to oral temperature measured once with a mercury-in-glass thermometer in 201 patients (aged 5years), on the Thai-Myanmar border. Ambient temperature was measured with an electronic thermo-hygrometer. Participants had a mean [min-max] age of 27 [5-60] years and 42% (84) were febrile by oral thermometer. The mean difference in the mercury and tympanic temperature measurement for all observers/devices was 0.09 (95%CI 0.07-0.12)°C and intra-class correlation for repeat tympanic measurements was high (0.97) for each observer. Deviations in tympanic temperatures were not related to ambient temperature. Conclusion: Clinically significant differences were not observed between oral and tympanic temperature measurements at high ambient temperatures in a rural tropical setting. © 2012 Chue et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.