Accuracy of infrared thermometers in very low birth weight infants and impact on newborn behavioural states

Abstract

Temperature measurements taken with infrared thermometers demonstrated less disruption to preterm infants' behavioural state, however accuracy of devices varied.

A practical comparison of temporal artery thermometry and axillary thermometry in neonates under different environments

“…This may be due to the inevitable direct heating effect of these interventions on the skin. Our findings contrasted with Jarvis's, which showed good agreement in one TT device for neonates nursed on incubators . This could be due to differences in incubator settings such as temperature and humidity levels.…”

“…For babies nursed on room air, TT temperatures were statistically higher than AT temperatures by 0.1 °C. This corroborates with the range of values reported by aforementioned studies helmed by Lee, Duran, Haddad and Jarvis (0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.07–1.34 °C, respectively) . Good clinical agreeability was observed between TT and AT.…”

“…The average FLACC scores associated with AT were at least 1.9 points higher than that of TT. This corroborates with Lee and Jarvis's aforementioned studies . The impact of increased distress violates the principle of minimal handling and is of significant importance to sick newborns nursed in the NICU requiring up to six temperature measurements per 24 h.…”

“…However in 2012, a study headed by Haddad involving 125 neonates of more than 35 weeks gestation concluded that temporal temperatures were statistically higher than axillary temperatures, although no meaningful clinical difference was detected . Another study by Jarvis et al . involving very low birthweight infants also revealed varying device comparability, with only one out of three TT devices showing satisfactory clinical agreement.…”

Using axillary temperature to approximate rectal temperature in newborns

“…Several recent studies have reported on the accuracy of noninvasive temperature measurement methods for children (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8), and the overall picture is that such methods can, at best, serve as an alternative with limited reliability to rectal temperature measurement. Even though rectal temperature, which determines the core temperature with high precision, is widely viewed as the gold standard for body temperature measurement (9), axillary temperature measurement is frequently used in practice as it is considered safe and convenient (10)(11)(12).…”