Comparison of the Specificity and Sensitivity of the Infrared Temporal Artery and Digital Axillary Body Temperature Measurements with Nasopharyngeal Method in Adult Patients

Accurate and timely determination of body temperature as one of the vital signs of the body is the key to diagnosis and treatment. Temporal artery thermometer is one of the new tools for measuring body temperature that is still unknown regarding for its accuracy and reliability. Therefore, this study aimed at comparing the specificity and sensitivity of two methods of body temperature measurement by electric subroutine thermometer and digital temporal artery in comparison with nasopharyngeal thermometer in adult patients.

This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on 200 adult patients over 17 years old admitted to the ICU of Shohadaye Khalije Fars Hospital, Bushehr, Iran in 2015. The samples were selected by convenience sampling method. For all samples, body temperature was measured and recorded using three methods, including nasopharyngeal (gold standard), axillary, and temporal arterial methods. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 and STATA 11 software using Pearson correlation coefficient, chi-square test and ROC curve.

The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the temporal artery method with fever threshold of 37.7°C were 94.0%, 85.0% and 86.5%, respectively, and showed a good agreement between the axillary and temporal artery methods with a kappa coefficient of 0.67.

Body temperature measurement by temporal artery method is precise, fast, comfortable and safe for patients in comparison with nasopharyngeal and axillary methods and the best threshold for fever in this method is 37.7°C.