ABSTRACT
Background: Temperature screening checkpoints have become prevalent in all public places during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contactless screening methods have been adopted for the early detection and isolation of febrile patients. The tympanic method closely resembles the body core temperature, however, they are not in use due to the disposal charges. This study aims to compare the efficacy of wrist and forehead temperature methods with the standard tympanic temperature. In light of the fact that a large population require rapid screening and that forehead temperature measurement being influenced by the environment, we investigated the accuracy and benefits of wrist temperature measurement in various environments. Material(s) and Method(s): This study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in Perundurai, Tamilnadu. All the visitors who presented to the OPD between 6th April-13th May 2020 were included in the study. The exclusion criteria were those with ear discharge and tympanic membrane perforation. All the participants were made to wait for 10 minutes in the waiting hall to ensure temperature-controlled settings. We consecutively collected wrist, forehead, and tympanic temperature readings of all participants using infrared thermometers. Fever was defined as a temperature above 37.5degreeC. The data was analyzed using the Bland-Altmann plot in MS Excel 2016. Result(s): A total of 514 participants were enrolled in the study. The mean difference ranged from 2.10 to -2.00 for the forehead measurements and 2.00 to -2.00 for wrist measurements. The agreements for each method with tympanic temperature were calculated. (Forehead temperature: 1.23 to -1.17;Wrist temperature: 1.23 to -1.13). Conclusion(s): The study concluded that the wrist temperature was more stable than the forehead temperature. However, these methods did not provide any diagnostic cut-off value. Furthermore, the asymptomatic nature of some COVID-19 cases reduced the sensitivity of these tests. Further studies are advised to explore the validity of wrist temperature. Copyright © 2022 International Journal of Academic Medicine and Pharmacy. All rights reserved.