Lack of agreement between tympanic and oral temperature measurements in adult hospitalized patients.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to compare temperature measurements obtained by tympanic thermometers with those obtained by oral electronic or mercury-glass thermometers in adult hospitalized patients.


METHODS
A prospective study of 406 nonintensive care unit adult patients hospitalized during an 8-month period in a tertiary care community medical center.


RESULTS
Poor agreement was observed between tympanic versus electronic thermometer reading, with 95% limits of agreement of -2.11 degrees F to +2.81 degrees F. Similarly, poor agreement was observed between tympanic versus oral mercury-glass temperatures, with 95% limits of agreement of -1.72 degrees F and +2.64 degrees F oral electronic temperatures 100 degrees F (37.7 degrees C) or higher, 10 (37%, 95% confidence interval 19% to 58%) readings were 99.5 degrees F (37.5 degrees C) or lower, and six (22%, 95% confidence interval 9% to 42%) measured lower than 98.6 degrees F by tympanic thermometers.


CONCLUSIONS
Temperatures measured by tympanic thermometers generally have poor agreement with those measured by oral electronic or mercury-glass thermometers in adult hospitalized patients. We recommend the tympanic thermometers not by used for routine screening for fever in this patient population.
Department of Infection Control, St John's Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis, MO 63141, USA.
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Manian
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Griesenauer
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009055:Mouth / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013821:Thermometers / Q000592:standards*; D014432:Tympanic Membrane / Q000502:physiology*