Abstract
Background: Core body temperature (CBT) is commonly evaluated by measuring oral (OT) and tympanic membrane (TT) temperatures; however, there are considerable debates on which of these methods is the most appropriate.
Objective: To evaluate concordance of OT and TT with CBT.
Material and Methods: OT, TT and fresh urine temperature (FUT) were measured simultaneously in 45 apparently healthy young adult males from Buraydah, Qassim, KSA during July 2015. All readings were obtained between 7:00 and 10:00 pm according to the standard methods. FUT was used as indicator of CBT.
Results: OT (36.35 +/- 0.41 degrees C) was significantly higher compared with TT (35.99 +/- 0.81 degrees C, P = 0.013) as well as FUT (35.55 +/- 0.76 degrees C, P < 0.001). TT was significantly higher compared with FUT (P = 0.003). Using one sample t-test, the difference between OT and TT (0.36 +/- 0.92 degrees C, P = 0.011), OT and FUT (0.80 +/- 0.90 degrees C, P < 0.001) and TT and FUT (0.44 +/- 0.80 degrees C, P = 0.001) were significantly above zero. Disconcordance of the OT, IT and FUT measurements are further illustrated by Bland-Altman plots. There were no significant correlations between OT and TT as well as between OT and FUT. However, TT correlated positively with FUT (r = 0.48, P = 0.001).
Conclusions: OT and TT are inappropriate measures for CBT. CBT has influence on TT, but not OT.