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The Maine Experience

Leonard Keilson, MD, MPH; Deborah Lambert, RN, BSN; Dorothy Fabian, EdD; Joyce Thebarge, RN; Theimann Ackerson, MSW; Glenn Palomaki; Will Turgeon, MA

JAMA. 1985;254(13):1781-1784.

Abstract
This study investigated the prevalence of low body temperatures in 97 elderly and 20 nonelderly subjects. To the best of our knowledge, no earlier survey has been conducted with a North American population. To ensure comparability with the British National Survey performed in 1973, urine temperatures were collected as a proxy measure of core temperatures. The urine-collecting funnel was modified to minimize cooling artifact introduced by the device. Study subjects were selected from an internal medicine clinic that serves the poor, a federally subsidized housing project, and a subsidized housing project in northernmost Maine. A youthful population (mean age, 32.3 years) was chosen to provide a comparative population to elderly participants (mean age, 73.9 years). Based on the British National Survey, the expected prevalence of low body temperatures (<35.5 °C) was 10%. The present study detected no low body temperatures, and the average urine and mouth temperatures were 0.3 and 0.19 °C warmer, respectively, than those in the British National Survey. Youthful subjects were not significantly different from elderly participants. There appears to be no evidence from this study that low early-morning basal body temperature (<35.5 °C) is a common geriatric occurrence in ambient room temperature.

(JAMA 1985;254:1781-1784)

Author Affiliations
From the Division of Ambulatory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Maine Medical Center, Portland (Dr Keilson, Mss Lambert and Thebarge, and Mr Ackerson); the Bureau of Maine's Elderly, Department of Human Services, State of Maine, Augusta (Dr Fabian); and the Foundation for Blood Research, Scarborough, ME (Messrs Palomaki and Turgeon).

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Division of Ambulatory Medicine, Department of Medicine, Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME 04102 (Dr Keilson).

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