Reliability of parent-measured axillary temperatures.
BACKGROUND
Fever is a common symptom in children. Assessment of accuracy of parental temperature measurement is integral in determining proper medical management.


METHODS
The authors recruited 25 afebrile and 13 febrile children from outpatient sites. Participants had rectal temperatures measured by a trained study staff, followed by axillary temperature measurements by trained study staff and parent. Analysis of variance was used to compare the afebrile and febrile groups; the paired t test was used to compare parent and study personnel's axillary temperature measurements. Analysis included the statistical significance of Pearson's correlation coefficients for the various comparisons.


RESULTS
In both febrile and afebrile groups, the rectal temperatures were greater than axillary temperature measurements, but the difference was not consistent. There was a very high correlation (correlation coefficient range = .86-.96) between axillary temperature measurements performed by trained study staff and parents.


CONCLUSIONS
Parental report of axillary temperature measurement can be considered reliable.
Klein
Melissa
M
Division of General and Community Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 3333 Burnett Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. melissa.klein@cchmc.org
DeWitt
Thomas G
TG
D000328:Adult; D001365:Axilla; D001831:Body Temperature; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005334:Fever / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients; D010290:Parents; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D012007:Rectum; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013821:Thermometers