ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2023
Relationship Between Oral Temperature and Bacteremia in Hospitalized Patients.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 2 citations in OpenAlex.
- The association between body temperature parameters and blood culture positivity in the inpatient setting: a retrospective cohort study.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Relationship Between White Blood Cell Count and Bacteremia Using Interval Likelihood Ratios in Hospitalized Patients.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEarly recognition and treatment of bacteremia can be lifesaving. Fever is a well-known marker of bacteremia, but the predictive value of temperature has not been fully explored.
objectiveTo describe temperature as a predictor of bacteremia and other infections.
designRetrospective review of electronic health record data.
settingA single healthcare system comprising 13 hospitals in the United States. PATIENTS: Adult medical patients admitted in 2017 or 2018 without malignancy or immunosuppression. MAIN MEASURES: Maximum temperature, bacteremia, influenza and skin and soft tissue (SSTI) infections based on blood cultures and ICD-10 coding. KEY
resultsOf 97,174 patients, 1,518 (1.6%) had bacteremia, 1,392 (1.4%) had influenza, and 3,280 (3.3%) had an SSTI. There was no identifiable temperature threshold that provided adequate sensitivity and specificity for bacteremia. Only 45% of patients with bacteremia had a maximum temperature ≥ 100.4˚F (38˚C). Temperature showed a U-shaped relationship with bacteremia with highest risk above 103˚F (39.4˚C). Positive likelihood ratios for influenza and SSTI also increased with temperature but showed a threshold effect at ≥ 101.0 ˚F (38.3˚C). The effect of temperature was similar but blunted for patients aged ≥ 65 years, who frequently lacked fever despite bacteremia.
conclusionsThe majority of bacteremic patients had maximum temperatures below 100.4 ˚F (38.0˚C) and positive likelihood ratios for bacteremia increased with high temperatures above the traditional definition of fever. Efforts to predict bacteremia should incorporate temperature as a continuous variable.
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