Change in the body temperature of healthy term infant over the first 72 hours of life

Objective: To determine the range of body temperature in a group of healthy Chinese term neonates over the first 72 hours of life and to assess the influence of body weight, gestational age and route of delivery. Method: All 200 consecutive cases of neonates delivered at our hospital from March to August 2001 were included in this retrospective study. Temperatures were measured immediately after delivery, after 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 8 hours and 15 hours and on the 2nd and 3rd day. Axillary temperatures ranging from 36.5 篊 to 37 篊 were regarded as normal. No cases of maternal fever or systemic infection of the newborns were discovered. All infants were discharged in good general condition. Results: The mean rectal temperature at birth was 37.19 篊. The lowest average temperature was reached at 1 hour after delivery (36.54 篊) with a significant difference between natural delivery (36.48 篊) and section (36.59 篊) (P<0.05). Temperature subsequently rose to 36.70 篊 at 8 hours and 36.78 篊 at 15 hours (P<0.05). Hypothermia was seen in 51.8% and hypothermia in 42.5% of the patients. On the 3rd day after delivery, 96% of all temperatures were in the normal range. A significant relation was found between hypothermia and both low birth weight (P<0.001) and low gestational age (P<0.05). Conclusion: The ref-erence range presently used did not include all physiological temperatures in the first 72 hours of life. Considering other factors, such as birth weight, route of delivery, gestational age and body temperature on the 2nd and 3rd day of life, may help to correctly assess the significance of temperatures beyond the reference range.

Emergency department rectal temperatures in over 10 years:A retrospective observational study

BACKGROUND:Fever in patients can provide an important clue to the etiology of a patient's symptoms.Non-invasive temperature sites(oral,axillary,temporal) may be insensitive due to a variety of factors.This has not been well studied in adult emergency department patients.To determine whether emergency department triage temperatures detected fever adequately when compared to a rectal temperature.METHODS:A retrospective chart review was made of 27 130 adult patients in a high volume,urban emergency department over an eight-year period who received first a non-rectal triage temperature and then a subsequent rectal temperature.RESULTS:The mean difference in temperatures between the initial temperature and the rectal temperature was 1.3 °F(P<0.001),with 25.9%of the patients having higher rectal temperatures >2°F,and 5.0%having higher rectal temperatures >4 °F.The mean difference among the patients who received oral,axillary,and temporal temperatures was 1.2 °F(PO.001),1.8 °F(PO.001),and 1.2 °F(P<0.001) respectively.About 18.1%of the patients were initially afebrile and found to be febrile by rectal temperature,with an average difference of 2.5 °F(P<0.001).These patients had a higher rate of admission(61.4%,P<0.005),and were more likely to be admitted to the hospital for a higher level of care,such as an intensive care unit,when compared with the full cohort(12.5%vs.5.8%,P<0.005).CONCLUSIONS:There are significant differences between rectal temperatures and noninvasive triage temperatures in this emergency department cohort.In almost one in five patients,fever was missed by triage temperature.