Department of Pediatric Nursing, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Department of Pediatrics, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Neonatology. 2021;118(2):180-186. doi: 10.1159/000513720. Epub 2021 Mar 23.
The agreement between axillary temperature (AT) and rectal temperature (RT) measurements has not been well established in preterm infants. Therefore, our study aimed to evaluate the agreement between AT and RT measurements in very preterm infants.
Preterm infants <32 weeks of gestational age were prospectively included. The infants' body temperature (BT) was measured twice a day from day 1 to day 6. A paired t-test and the Bland-Altman method were used to analyze the difference between the AT and RT. A linear regression model was used to explore the effects of environmental factors on the differences of BT between the axillary and rectal measurements and to calibrate the RT according to the AT.
Eighty infants each underwent 6 paired axillary and rectal measurements. The gestational age varied from 22 to 31 weeks (mean 28 weeks). The birth weight varied from 302 to 1,770 g (mean 1,025 g). The AT was significantly lower than the RT. The difference between the RT and AT significantly increased with increasing RT. The AT and RT demonstrated poor agreement overall; however, the RT can be estimated using the AT with the following equation: RT = -4.033 + 1.116 × AT. Environmental factors, including the incubator temperature, incubator humidity, phototherapy, and application of invasive mechanical ventilation did not affect the differences between the AT and RT measurements.
AT measurements cannot be interchangeably used with RT measurements in very preterm infants.
尚未明确早产儿的腋温（AT）与直肠温度（RT）测量值之间的一致性。因此，本研究旨在评估极早产儿 AT 与 RT 测量值之间的一致性。
前瞻性纳入胎龄<32 周的早产儿。从第 1 天到第 6 天，每天测量婴儿体温（BT）两次。采用配对 t 检验和 Bland-Altman 法分析 AT 与 RT 之间的差异。采用线性回归模型探讨环境因素对腋温和直肠测量 BT 差值的影响，并根据 AT 对 RT 进行校准。
80 例婴儿分别进行了 6 次腋温和直肠的配对测量。胎龄为 22 周至 31 周（平均 28 周），出生体重为 302 克至 1770 克（平均 1025 克）。AT 明显低于 RT，RT 与 AT 的差值随 RT 升高而显著增加。总体而言，AT 与 RT 之间的一致性较差，但 RT 可通过以下公式用 AT 估计：RT = -4.033 + 1.116 × AT。环境因素，包括保温箱温度、保温箱湿度、光疗和应用有创机械通气，均不影响 AT 与 RT 测量值之间的差异。
在极早产儿中，AT 测量值不能与 RT 测量值互换使用。
