Assessment of fever in African children: implication for malaria trials.

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Sunny OyakhiromePeter Gottfried Kremsner

Abstract

We evaluated methods for assessing body temperature by comparing subjective assessment of fever by parents and doctors with objective axillary, tympanic, and rectal measurements of body temperature in 1000 children < or = 10-years-old who presented at outpatient clinics with recent history of fever. Sensitivity of subjective assessment of fever were higher at thresholds of > or = 38.3 degrees C with specificity as low as 60%. Axillary methods showed better specificity at fever thresholds of > 38.0 degrees C with maximum sensitivity of 63% at thresholds of > or = 37.5 degrees C. Bland-Altman analysis showed wide limits of agreement between objective methods of measurements: -1 degrees C to 3 degrees C for comparison of rectal and axillary, -1 degrees C to 2 degrees C for rectal and tympanic, and -1 degrees C to 2 degrees C for tympanic and axillary measurements. A choice of method to measure body temperature for diagnosis of fever in African children should be informed by a trade-off between its specificity and sensitivity that considers thresholds > 38.0 degrees C.

References

Dec 1, 1990·Archives of Disease in Childhood·E S AndersonM P Wailoo
Apr 1, 1989·Archives of Disease in Childhood·M P WailooP Goodenough
Jun 1, 1985·American Journal of Diseases of Children·T N Ernst, M Philp
Oct 1, 1974·The American Journal of Nursing·C G Blainey
Jul 1, 1994·Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene·J R SchellenbergP L Alonso
Jan 1, 1995·Annals of Emergency Medicine·J M ChamberlainJ Grandner
May 1, 1993·Clinical Pediatrics·D AnagnostakisE Sarafidou
Aug 1, 1993·Critical Care Medicine·M J RomanoF Stein
Mar 1, 1993·Clinical Pediatrics·L W Herzog, L J Coyne
Apr 8, 1996·Archives of Internal Medicine·R P RabinowitzP A Mackowiak
Jun 1, 1996·Pediatric Emergency Care·J W Graneto, D F Soglin
Sep 23, 1997·Lancet·E M Einterz, M E Bates
Jul 31, 1998·BMJ : British Medical Journal·K WhybrewC Morley
Jan 30, 1999·Clinical Pediatrics·J Seguin, K Terry
Jan 27, 2004·Vaccine·S Michael MarcyUNKNOWN Brighton Collaboration Fever Working Group
Jun 20, 2007·Vaccine·Vasee MoorthyUNKNOWN WHO Study Group on Measures of Malaria Vaccine Efficacy

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Feb 13, 2016·Malaria Journal·Thomas KestemanChristophe Rogier
Apr 30, 2011·Chest·Michael N MavrosMatthew E Falagas
Apr 7, 2021·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·Florian MarksEric Houpt

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Antimalarial Agents (ASM)

Antimalarial agents, also known as antimalarials, are designed to prevent or cure malaria. Discover the latest research on antimalarial agents here.

Antimalarial Agents

Antimalarial agents, also known as antimalarials, are designed to prevent or cure malaria. Discover the latest research on antimalarial agents here.