Statistical Analysis of the Axillary Temperatures Measured by a Predictive Electronic Thermometer in Healthy Japanese Adults

Body temperature is important for diagnosing illnesses. However, its assessment is often a difficult task, considering the large individual differences. Although 37 °C has been the gold standard of body temperature for over a century, the temperature of modern people is reportedly decreasing year by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2021-05, Vol.18 (10), p.5096
Main Authors: Yoshihara, Tatsuya, Zaitsu, Masayoshi, Ito, Kazuya, Chung, Eunhee, Matsumoto, Mayumi, Manabe, Junko, Sakamoto, Takashi, Tsukikawa, Hiroshi, Nakagawa, Misato, Shingu, Masami, Matsuki, Shunji, Irie, Shin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age groups
Blood pressure
Body mass index
Body temperature
Clinical medicine
Clinical trials
Coronaviruses
Females
Males
Regression analysis
Statistical analysis
Statistical prediction
Temperature measurement
Time measurement
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Summary:Body temperature is important for diagnosing illnesses. However, its assessment is often a difficult task, considering the large individual differences. Although 37 °C has been the gold standard of body temperature for over a century, the temperature of modern people is reportedly decreasing year by year. However, a mean axillary temperature of 36.89 ± 0.34 °C reported in 1957 is still cited in Japan. To assess the measured axillary temperature appropriately, understanding its distribution in modern people is important. This study retrospectively analyzed 2454 axillary temperature measurement data of healthy Japanese adults in 2019 (age range, 20–79 years; 2258 males). Their mean temperature was 36.47 ± 0.28 °C (36.48 ± 0.27 °C in males and 36.35 ± 0.31 °C in females). Approximately 5% of the 20–39-year-old males had body temperature ≥37 °C, whereas 8% had a temperature ≥ 37 °C in the afternoon. However, none of the subjects aged ≥50 years reported body temperature ≥37 °C. In multivariable regression analysis, age, blood pressure, pulse rate, and measurement time of the day were associated with axillary temperature. Our data showed that the body temperature of modern Japanese adults was lower than that reported previously. When assessing body temperature, the age, blood pressure, pulse rate, and measurement time of the day should be considered.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph18105096