title: When body temperature changes, does rectal temperature lag?
abstract: By using temporal artery and rectal thermometers, we followed temperatures in 45 febrile (>38.5 degrees C) infants given an antipyretic drug. Sixty and 90 minutes after drug administration, temporal artery temperatures had decreased significantly more than rectal temperatures. When body arterial temperature changes rapidly, changes in rectal temperature may lag.
authors.affiliation: Division of Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. david.greenes@childrens.harvard.edu
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Greenes
authors.forename: Gary R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Fleisher
mesh_terms: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000187:drug effects*; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D012007:Rectum; D013699:Temporal Arteries; D013821:Thermometers
chemical_list: D018712:Analgesics, Non-Narcotic