Comparative study of various techniques to measure neonatal hypothermia

Aim To compare different available modes (forehead infrared thermometer ,axillary temperature by thermister probe and digital thermometer, with axillary temperature by gold standard mercury thermometer) of temperature measurement in neonatal hypothermia in order to come out with most accurate one among them. Background Hypothermia is very important in essential newborn care as it can lead to mild to severe life threatening complication, so detecting hypothermia takes important role in its management. Material Methods Study Design: Setting was Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Level 3), Kamla Raja Hospital ,Gajra Raja Medical College, Gwalior, India. A Prospective study of one year (July 2010 - June 2011 ) duration done with 1690 admissions of neonatal intensive care unit (full fill inclusion criterion ) by applying Fisher test on 2×2 contingency table to get sensitivity , specificity , positive predictive value , negative predictive value and accuracy of above 4 methods by STATA 9.1 (STATA corporation, college station , TX, USA). Results Digital thermometer is having highest sensitivity (99.1%), specificity (98.1%), positive predictive value (97.4%) and negative predictive value(99.3%). Conclusion Digital axillary thermometry is the best alternative to mercury thermometer for measuring neonatal temperature compared with axillary temperature by thermister probe and forehead temperature by infrared thermometer.