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Comparative Study
. 2004 Jun;54(503):448-50.

The use of infrared thermometry for the detection of fever

Alastair D Hay  1 , Tim J Peters, Andrew Wilson, Tom Fahey
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The use of infrared thermometry for the detection of fever

Alastair D Hay et al. Br J Gen Pract. 2004 Jun.

Abstract

The use of tympanic thermometry is attractive in primary care, but a recent systematic review highlighted the paucity of data comparing tympanic thermometry with conventional methods. We report a study of 94 preschool children presenting to primary care in the United Kingdom (UK) with acute cough in whom tympanic infrared and axillary mercury thermometry are compared. Infrared thermometry showed poor agreement, poor sensitivity and high specificity. Infrared thermometry is too insensitive to be used as a screening test for fever, but when fever is already suspected, for example by touch, it may be useful as a 'rule in' test.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plot of the difference between axillary and tympanic temperature readings against their mean.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Infrared ear thermometry.
    Ng DK, Chan CH, Chow PY, Kwok KL. Ng DK, et al. Br J Gen Pract. 2004 Nov;54(508):869; author reply 869. Br J Gen Pract. 2004. PMID: 15527618 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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