Comparison of Temperature Measured by Axillary Digital Thermometer and Forehead Infrared Sensor Thermometer

Abstract

A cross-sectional analytic research aimed to compare the temperature measured by axillary digital and forehead Infrared sensor thermometer. Of these, 210 samples who were patients accessed to the service at Klonghoikong Hospital of Songkhla. The data was collected and recorded using axillary digital and
forehead infrared sensor thermometer from February 1st, 2019 and March 31st, 2019. Each subject was measured body temperature by axillary digital and front forehead infrared thermometer. Paired t-test, Bland-Altman and ROC curve were used in this study. Results showed that the axillary temperature (T=37.58 °C)
had higher mean value than the forehead (T= 37.45 °C). The mean difference ( X =2.43; p-value = 0.010). The axillary temperature and the forehead were significantly different (Mean difference = 0.13, 95%CI = 0.02, 0.24, p-value= 0.01). The 95% limits of agreement was 3.09. The cut point of predicting axillary temperatures at 39.05 °c. Area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was 78.80%, 50% of sensitivity, 88.90% of specificity, 52.93% of positive predictive value, 48.34% of negative predictive value. It was accurate that forehead cut points at 38.75 °C. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was 57.00%, 0% of sensitivity, 88.90% of specificity, 0% of positive predictive value, and 0.50% of negative predictive value. The axillary digital thermometer had higher different, inconsistent and more accurate than forehead infrared thermometer. Therefore, using infrared temperature sensor forehead could not be used as a substitute for axillary digital temperature in clinical practice among general out-patients.