Q&A’s on Thermometer Accuracy Q:
What makes thermometers accurate? What should we know about
thermometer accuracy? How about non- contact thermometers?
Published peer-reviewed clinical studies. Without such studies by medical professionals, there is no assurance of accuracy on children and adults in all settings.
A:
Accuracy specifications by manufacturers of thermometers are laboratory accuracy, not accuracy in actual use on people being tested for fever. Laboratory accuracy tests do not include important physiological effects which vary from person to person, and setting to setting, which can affect the actual accuracy well beyond their laboratory accuracy.
Published peer-reviewed clinical studies are the gold standard for accuracy, since they include actual use on people in many settings, which automatically includes the physiological effects that vary from person to person and setting to setting. Only these studies can provide the assurance that the thermometer will provide accuracy in detecting fevers for all ages in all settings.
With more than 80 published peer-reviewed clinical studies attesting to the accuracy on all ages from newborns to geriatrics, in all settings where fever detection is needed, the Exergen Temporal Artery Thermometer is by far the most proven accurate, compared to thermometers which have no or very few clinical studies.
Q: A:
How about non-contact thermometers?
Non-contact thermometers are highly inaccurate for detecting fevers, here is why:
Accuracy specifications by manufacturers of non- contact thermometers (NCIT) are laboratory accuracy, not accuracy in actual use on people being tested for fever. Laboratory accuracy tests do not include important physiological effects which vary from person to person, and setting to setting, rendering NCIT’s unreliable, regardless of their laboratory accuracy. For non-contact devices, these physiological effects can overwhelm the normal laboratory accuracy of the device, to the point that its actual error is 2 deg C rather than 0.2 deg C.1
Studies have demonstrated NCIT’s detected fever in from 4% to 90% of the people with fevers, and did not detect fever in from 75% to 100% of people who lacked fever.2
Q: A:
Studies of real-world efficacy of fever screening at
airports and borders found that almost no disease cases had been caught across several nations and pandemics.
Have non-contact thermometers been compared to Exergen TemporalScanner
thermometers?
Yes, in a new study published in 2020.3 Independent researchers conducted a prospective
observational study on a sample of 265 non-infectious patients at two hospitals. When body temperatures read below 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the thermometers showed similar results, but as temperatures rose above that, non-contact scanners’ accuracy decreased. Temperatures were farther apart as they rose. The non-contact scanners missed five out of every six fevers detected by Exergen temporal artery thermometers.
According to the authors, “This is the first study to compare the accuracy of non-contact infrared thermometers (NCIT) to TAT in adult patients. Although mass fever screening is currently underway using NCIT, these results indicate that the NCIT may not be the most accurate device for fever mass screening during a pandemic.”
1,2,3: References at
exergen.com/trade-in
Exergen Corporation 400 Pleasant Street Watertown, MA 02472
For more information, please call 617-923-9900 x6234, email:
medical@exergen.com, or visit:
www.exergen.com
Access clinical studies:
www.exergen.com/s
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