HUMAN BODY TEMPERATURE Myths and Facts

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HUMAN BODY TEMPERATURE Myths and Facts

• Chanchala Srivastava

PROBABILITY STATISTICSCourse Project Brandeis
University Summer 2003
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Outline
1. Is the true population mean 98.6 F ? 2.
Does the gender affect body temperature ? 3.
Does the heart rate affect body temperature ? 4.
Probability Distribution 5. Conclusion
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References

• Allen L. Shoemaker, "What's Normal? Temperature,
  Gender, and Heart Rate," Journal of Statistics
  Education, 1996
• Mackowiak, P. A., Wasserman, S. S., and Levine,
  M. M. (1992), "A Critical Appraisal of 98.6
  Degrees F, the Upper Limit of the Normal Body
  Temperature, and Other Legacies of Carl Reinhold
  August Wunderlich," Journal of the American
  Medical Association, 268, 1578-1580

Data set containing 130 observations of body
temperature and heart rate. 65 entries were
females and 65 were males.
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Myth and Facts
Myth NORMAL BODY TEMP. IS 98.6F (based on
study by Carl Wunderlich in 1868). Fact
Temperatures vary from morning to evening,
person to person, child or adult, male to
female, before and after physical activity,
before and after food intake, etc. and where
the thermometer is placed. Myth Any
temperature above 98.6F is a fever. Fact
Normal temperatures can go up to 100F (100.3F
for rectal). This often happens in the evening
or after exercise in hot weather.
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1. Is the true population mean 98.6 F ?
Average body temperature 98.25 F
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2. Does the gender affect body temperature ?
Average Male Temp 98.10 F
Average Female Temp 98.39 F
Females have a higher body temperature than males.
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3. Does the heart rate affect body
temperature ?
96.3.02(hr)
Body temperature increases with heart
rate Temperature increases by 0.1 F when the
heart rate increases by about 4 beats per minute
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4. Probability distribution
Normal distribution fits well to the observed
data. Need more data to judge the fit.
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5. Conclusions

• Average human body temperature is 98.25 and not
  98.6 F
• On an average, female body temperature is
  hotter than males
• Heart rate affects body temperature. A linear
  fit shows that
• for every 4 beats per minute increase in the
  heart rate, there
• is a 0.1 F rise in body temperature
• Body temperature data follows a Normal
  Distribution pattern
• Need more data for more accurate analysis on
  this subject