JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 5 , Pages 335-337 , June 2007

Older is Colder: Observations on Body Temperature Among Nursing Home Subjects

  • Irving H. Gomolin, MDCM, CMD, FRCPC, FACP

      Affiliations

    • Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY, and State University of New York at Stony Brook
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence to Irving Gomolin, MDCM, FRCPC, FACP, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Winthrop University Hospital, 222 Station Plaza North, Suite 518, Mineola, NY 11501.
    • ,
  • Paula Lester, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Geriatric Medicine, Department of Medicine, Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY, and State University of New York at Stony Brook
    • ,
  • Simcha Pollack, PhD

      Affiliations

    • St. John’s University, Queens, New York.

References 

  1. Gomolin IH, Aung MM, Wolf-Klein G, Auerbach C. Older is colder: Temperature range and variation in older people. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005;53:2170–2172
  2. Howell TH. Normal temperatures in old age. Lancet. 1948;1:517–519
  3. Salvosa CB, Payne PR, Wheeler EF. Environmental conditions and body temperatures of elderly women living alone or in local authority home. Br Med J. 1971;4:656–659
  4. Fox RH, Woodward PM, Exton-Smith AN, et al. Body temperatures in the elderly: A national study of physiological, social, and environmental conditions. Br Med J. 1973;1:200–206
  5. Thatcher RM. 98.6°F (What is normal?). J Gerontol Nurs. 1983;9:22–27
  6. Weinstein L. Clinically benign fever of unknown origin: A personal retrospective. Rev Infect Dis. 1985;7:692–699
  7. Castle SC, Norman DC, Yeh M, et al. Fever response in elderly nursing home residents: Are the older truly colder?. J Am Geriatr Soc. 1991;39:853–857
  8. Roghmann MC, Warner J, Mackowiak PA. The relationship between age and fever. Am J Med Sci. 2001;322:68–70
  9. Van Someren EJW, Raymann RJEM, Scherder EJA, Daanen HAM, Swaab DF. Circadian and age-related modulation of thermoreception and temperature regulation: Mechanisms and functional implications. Ageing Res Rev. 2002;1:721–778
  10. Monk TM, Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF, Kupfer DJ, Houck PR. Circadian temperature rhythms of older people. Exp Gerontol. 1995;30:455–474
  11. Touitou Y, Reinberg A, Bogdan A, et al. Age-related changes in both circadian and seasonal rhythms of rectal temperature with special reference to senile dementia of Alzheimer type. Gerontology. 1986;32:110–118
  12. Vitiello MV, Smallwood RG, Avery DH, et al. Circadian temperature rhythms in young adult and aged men. Neurobiol Aging. 1986;7:97–100
  13. Kelly G. Body temperature variability (Part 1): A review of the history of body temperature and its variability due to site selection, biological rhythms, fitness, and aging. Altern Med Rev. 2006;11:278–293
  14. Mackowiak PA, Wasserman SS, Levine MM. A critical appraisal of 98.6°F, the upper limit of the normal body temperature, and other legacies of Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich. JAMA. 1992;268:1578–1580
  15. Nallamothu BK, Payvar S, Wang Y, et al. Admission body temperature and mortality in elderly patients hospitalized for heart failure. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2006;47:2563–2654

PII: S1525-8610(07)00211-3

doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2007.04.005

JAMDA
Volume 8, Issue 5 , Pages 335-337 , June 2007

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