Body temperature of healthy men evaluated by thermography: A study of reproducibility

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Thermography is a safe, painless, and efficient method for checking the temperature of the skin. OBJECTIVE: Was to assess the pattern of skin temperature of healthy men, as well as to verify the reproducibility of the method. METHODS: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 30 men evaluated by thermography in two moments by using an infrared camera (FLIR +T650SC((R))). The skin temperature of 24 regions of interest (ROI) was measured. RESULTS: The mean difference in temperature of 10 ROIs in the two evaluations was not statistically significant. The comparisons of the triangle Tsk between the right and left sides by the two evaluations showed no differences. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) between the two moments of evaluation were statistically significant, where the dorsal measurements (Left forearm and Right dorsal arm) showed poor correlations and the others ranged from moderate to strong. Greater reproducibility was confirmed for ventral and dorsal hand ROIs; however, they presented the highest coefficient of variation (9% and 8%).Conclusion: There is a similarity between the temperatures of the ROIs and the reproducibility in 22 of the 24 ROIs varies from moderate to strong, showing that thermography is a reproducible method in healthy men.