2025 Volume 20 Issue 3 Pages 149-155
The accuracy and problems with the use of non-contact infrared thermometers (NCIT) for body temperature measurement in a palliative care unit (PCU) were evaluated. The study was conducted in adult cancer patients admitted to the PCU. Twenty-four hours after admission, the body temperature was measured in the axilla using a digital thermometer and in the forehead, temporal region, and neck using NCIT. An axillary temperature of 37.0°C or above was defined as a fever. Sixty patients were enrolled, and the cutoff value for a fever and AUC by the measurements using NCIT were 36.80°C and 0.851 in forehead group, 36.75°C and 0.843 in temporal group, and 37.1°C and 0.809 in neck group. At each site of measurement, the difference from the axillary temperature was smaller, and the range of limits of agreement was narrower, in the no-fever group than in the fever group. The forehead is considered to be the most appropriate site for body temperature measurement using NCIT in PCU. However, it was found that the temperature measured with NCIT shows a large variance in persons with fever.
