Volume 14, Number 8—August 2008
Dispatch
Cutaneous Infrared Thermometry for Detecting Febrile Patients
Pierre Hausfater*†
, Yan Zhao†‡, Stéphanie Defrenne*†, Pascale Bonnet*†, and Bruno Riou*†
, Yan Zhao†‡, Stéphanie Defrenne*†, Pascale Bonnet*†, and Bruno Riou*†
Table 1
Assessment of diagnostic performance of cutaneous temperature in predicting increased tympanic temperature*
| Characteristic | Predicted tympanic temperature, °C† | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| >37.5 | >38.0 | >38.5 | |
| Cutaneous temperature threshold, °C‡ | 37.5 | 38.0 | 38.5 |
| Sensitivity | 0.76 (0.69–0.82) | 0.82 (0.71–0.90) | 0.82 (0.67–0.91) |
| Specificity | 0.65 (0.63–0.67) | 0.77 (0.76–0.79) | 0.90 (0.88–0.91) |
| Positive predictive value | 0.16 (0.14–0.19) | 0.10 (0.08–0.13) | 0.13 (0.09–0.18) |
| Negative predictive value | 0.97 (0.96–0.98) | 0.99 (0.99–1.00) | 1.00 (0.99–1.00) |
| Accuracy | 0.66 (0.64–0.68) | 0.78 (0.76–0.79) | 0.90 (0.89–0.91) |
*Values in parenthesis are 95% confidence intervals.
†Definition of hyperthermia.
‡Corresponds to the best threshold for a definition of cutaneous hyperthermia determined by using receiver operating characteristic curve.
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