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Temporal Artery Thermometry Utilization in Pediatric Emergency Care

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: titusda{at}musc.edu.

	Abstract

Objective To determine the effectiveness of temporal artery thermometry (TAT) as an alternative for temperature assessment of children 1 to 4 years of age in the pediatric emergency department.

Methods Prospective cross-sectional study conducted at an urban children’s hospital emergency department. TAT and rectal temperatures are compared in a convenience sample of children 1 to 4 years of age. Comparison of the temperatures is performed using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression analysis.

Results TAT and rectal temperatures are measured in 42 children 1 to 4 years of age. TAT predicts 83% of rectal temperatures. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis shows that a cutoff of 37.7°C or greater for fever in TAT is equivalent to rectal temperature greater than or equal to 38.3°C with 100% sensitivity and 93.5% specificity.

Conclusion TAT is an effective screening tool in identifying fever in children 1 to 4 years of age.

First published on November 17, 2008, doi:10.1177/0009922808327056

Clinical Pediatrics 2009;48:190.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2009


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