Distribution of skin temperature in Mexican children

Abstract

Background: Infrared thermography can be a valuable diagnostic tool in the evaluation and management of several pathologies; however, the temperature pattern of the healthy body should be known in order to perform a more precise clinical evaluation.

Methods: A total of 25 healthy children (10 female and 15 male) were examined with a thermographic camera. Eighty-four temperature points of the body were recorded, saved in a database, and analyzed.

Results: The measurements showed that the forehead, neck, and the cervical area have the highest average temperatures of the whole body, and that the temperature distribution between boys and girls is very similar. The difference in skin temperature along the y-axis of the body varied up to 5.1°C; however, the average difference in skin temperature along the x-axis of the body was 0.7°C. These temperature variations observed in children are lower than the ones reported for adults, which could be due to a greater variation of body fat distribution in adults.

Conclusion: This study shows that thermography could be a good tool for disease diagnosis in children as there is a lower skin temperature variation among children than among adults.

Keywords: infrared imaging; infrared thermography; skin temperature.