title: Performance of a non-contact infrared thermometer in healthy newborns.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the performance of a non-contact infrared thermometer (NCIT) in comparison with digital axillary thermometer (DAT) and infrared tympanic thermometers (ITT) in a population of healthy at term and preterm newborns nursed in incubators.
  
  
  METHODS
  1 level III maternity hospital, and its intensive neonatal care unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  119 healthy at term newborns and 70 preterm newborns nursed in incubators were consecutively enrolled. Exclusion criteria were unstable/critical conditions, polymalformative congenital syndromes and severe congenital syndromes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Body temperature readings were prospectively collected. Each participant underwent bilateral axillary temperature measurement with DAT, bilateral tympanic measurement with ITT and mid-forehead temperature measurements using NCIT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Degree of agreement between methods was evaluated by the Bland and Altman method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  714 measurements in 119 healthy at term newborns and 420 measurements in 70 preterm newborns nursed in incubators were performed. Clinical reproducibility of NCIT was 0.0455 °C for infants in incubators and 0.0861 °C for infants outside an incubator. Bias was 0.029 °C for infants in incubators and <0.0001 °C for infants outside an incubator. Zero outliers were recorded. The mean difference between methods was good both for newborns at term (0.12 °C for NCIT vs DAT and 0.02 °C for NCIT vs ITT) and preterm newborns in incubators (0.10 °C for NCIT vs DAT and 0.14 °C for NCIT vs ITT). Limits of agreement were 0.99 to -0.75 and 0.78 to -0.75 in at term newborns and were particularly satisfactory in preterm newborns in incubators (95% CI: 0.48 to -0.27 and 0.68 to -0.40).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results with Bland and Altman analysis demonstrate that NCIT is a very promising tool, especially in preterm newborns nursed in incubators.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The study was approved by the Careggi University Hospital Ethics Committee (07/2011).
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5003-993X
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sollai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dani
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Elettra
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fancelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Luisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Galli
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Martino
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, Anna Meyer Children's University Hospital, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chiappini
mesh_terms: D001365:Axilla; D001831:Body Temperature; D005260:Female; D005546:Forehead; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013821:Thermometers; D062125:Thermometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014432:Tympanic Membrane
keywords: NEONATOLOGY