Background:
Since age is the major risk factor for chronic diseases and mortality, older adults having lower basal temperature than young individuals seems to be a misconception. Many confounding factors could hinder the achievement of a consensus, such as the different sites of measurement, control of basal conditions, health conditions, age difference compared, sex, and others.
Objective:
The aim was to meta-analyze previous studies in order to find a consensus regarding the effects of aging on body temperature in humans, considering different types of temperature assessments, age differences, and sex.
Methods:
A systematic search was performed in PubMed, and 16 studies comparing basal temperature between older and young adults were meta-analyzed.
Results:
Older adults have significantly lower body temperature than young adults (-0.17 °C [-0.30; -0.03], p=0.04). Considering the different sites of measure, while core temperature tended to be lower in older adults (-0.13 °C [-0.27; 0.01], p=0.07), skin temperature was not different (-0.21°C [-0.5; 0.08], p=0.15). The aging effects were more prominent in men when assessed by oral temperature and when compared between higher age differences.
Conclusion:
Indeed, there is a small reduction in overall temperature with aging, drove by a reduction in core temperature rather than skin temperature. The confirmation of these findings by this meta-analysisprovides a base for the development of strategies to face the impairment in thermoregulation and metabolic efficiency with aging.
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