Axillary vs Rectal Temperatures in Children: A Systematic Review

Rectal temperature is considered the gold standard by many and outcome studies have often used rectal temperature to make clinical decisions.¹ However, temperature is now routinely measured at other more convenient sites including the ear, mouth, forehead, and axilla, often with a conversion or fudge factor added to estimate the rectal temperature. In this paper, Craig and colleagues from Liverpool, UK, have systematically reviewed studies comparing temperatures measured in the axilla (the test site) with temperatures measured in the rectum (the reference site) in the same child concurrently or immediately sequentially, using either mercury or electronic thermometers or indwelling thermocouple probes that had been calibrated (off-the-shelf thermometers have been shown to be inaccurate by at least 0.1°C²). The authors performed …