|
?:abstract
|
-
ABSTRACT Objective: To determine accuracy of infrared thermometer for detection of fever as compared to mercury thermometer Study Design: Cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, Combined Military Hospital Peshawar, from May to Jun 2020 Methodology: All willing adult patients reporting to the fever desk were selected by consecutive sampling Exclusion criteria included any dermatological condition affecting forehead and unwillingness Forehead temperature was first checked twice using Kinlee FT3010 infrared thermometer Axillary temperature was then recorded using a standard clinical mercury thermometer Results: There were 538 patients, including 251 (46 65%) males and 287 (53 35%) females, aged 46 76 ± 12 44 years Median temperatures recorded with infrared and mercury thermometers were 97 00°F (interquartile range: 95 10-97 80°F) and 98 30°F (interquartile range: 98 00-98 90°F) respectively (p0 001) Intra-class correlation was 0 143 (95% CI -0 052, 0 323) There was a weak to moderate correlation (R: 0 366;p0 001) between temperatures recorded by the two techniques ROC curve analysis for temperatures recorded by infrared thermometer revealed an area under curve of 0 725 at a threshold of 98 6°F and 0 746 at a threshold of 100 4°F defined by mercury thermometer Infrared thermometer had sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of 13 61% and 9 38%, 97 95% and 99 80%, 71 43% and 75 00%, and 75 10% and 95 57% for thresholds of 98 6°F and 100 4°F respectively Conclusion: Infrared thermometer underestimates temperatures recorded by mercury thermometer Limits of agreement are too broad, indicating inconsistency in measurements A significantly lower threshold is required to improve the sensitivity of Infrared thermometer in picking up fever
|
![[This page as RDF]](https://research.tib.eu/covid-19/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}