Screening for hypothermia in the ambulatory elderly. The Maine experience

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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.degree. C) was 10%. The present study detected no low body temperatures, and the average urine and mouth temperatures were 0.3 and 0.19.degree. 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.degree. C) is a common geriatic occurrence in ambient room temperature.

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