Comparisons of Core Temperature Between a Telemetric Pill and Heart Rate Estimated Core Temperature in Firefighters

• Main Authors: Stephen J. Pearson (Author), Brian Highlands (Author), Rebecca Jones (Author), Martyn J. Matthews (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Elsevier, 2022-03-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2093-7911; 10.1016/j.shaw.2021.11.003
• Keywords: Firefighter; Heart rate estimation; Internal temperature; Kalman filter; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Safety and Health at Work, Vol 13, Iss 1, Pp 99-103 (2022)

Background: Firefighters may experience high environmental temperatures or carry out intensive physical tasks, or both, which leads to increased core body temperature and risk of fatalities. Hence there is a need to remotely and non-invasively monitor core body temperature. Methods: Estimated (heart rate algorithm) and actual core body temperature (ingested telemetric pill) measures were collected simultaneously for comparison during training exercises on 44 firefighter volunteers. Results: Prediction of core body temperature varied, with no specific identifiable pattern between the algorithm values and directly measured body core temperatures. Group agreement of Lin's Concordance of 0.74 (95% Upper 0.75, lower CI 0.73), was deemed poor. Conclusion: From individual agreement data Lin's Concordance was variable (Min 0.11, CI 0.13-0.01; Max 0.83, CI 0.86-0.80), indicating that the heart rate algorithm approach was not suitable for core body temperature monitoring in this population group, especially at the higher more critical core body temperatures seen.