PEDIATRICS Vol. 64 No. 1 July 1979, pp. 4-6
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Inaccuracy of the Clinitemp Skin Thermometer

Keith S. Reisinger MD, MPH1, Joan Kao BA1, and Deborah M. Grant BS1

1 Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh

The Clinitemp Fever Detector (Clinitemp) is a newly marketed thermometer consisting of plasticencased thermophototropic esters of cholesterol that change color over a specific short-range of temperature. The manufacturer states that the instrument can identify fever by measuring skin temperature in children. On the basis of a patient's report of one inaccurate Clinitemp, we undertook to investigate the accuracy of this thermometer. One hundred fifty-two children presenting to the Children's Hospital Emergency Room had their temperature taken with two thermometers, an electronic thermometer that had been checked for accuracy with a National Bureau of Standards thermometer and the Clinitemp. Clinitemps, purchased over a two-month period from three pharmacies, were tested on different children. Thirteen of thirty children (43%) with fever (rectal temperature ge38.3 C (101 F) or oral temperature ge(37.8 C) (100 F) identified by the electronic thermometer, were correctly classified as having fever using the Clinitemp. When fever was defined to include children with a rectal temperature ge38.0 C (100.5 F) or an oral temperature of ge37.4 C (99.5 F), the Clinitemp correctly identified 13 (32.5%) of 40 children with fever. There appears to be an appreciable risk that someone with a serious illness may delay seeking medical attention on the basis of a normal temperature as measured by the Clinitemp.

Submitted on October 16, 1978
Accepted on November 16, 1978




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