Continuous Temperature Measurement for Syndromic Surveillance

Status Withdrawn

Clinical Trial Summary

Is it possible to detect infection before it is clinically apparent? Fever is one indicator of infection. However, until recently, continuous temperature monitoring has not been feasible. With the advent of microelectronics, long battery life, and wireless transmission, it is now possible to continuously measure, record and report body temperature. For a period of 90 days, residents of a long-term care facility will have their body temperature monitored and then those measurements will then be compared against other available healthcare data such as other recorded vital signs, nursing notes, provider visits, antibiotics, and hospitalization records for correlation of underlying infection.

Clinical Trial Description

Over 1.5 million people live in 16,000 nursing homes (NH) in the USA and experience an average of 2 million infections a year. It is well known that NH residents are at risk of infection because of frequent hospital stays, advanced age, exposure to multiple courses of antibiotics, numerous comorbidities, diminished immune response, malnutrition, and cognitive impairment. The most common are pneumonia, UTIs, diarrheal illnesses, and skin and soft tissue infections. Infections in NH residents have been associated with adverse clinical outcomes, including high rates of morbidity and mortality, re-hospitalization, prolonged hospital stays and substantial healthcare expenses.

The identification of fever is a key component in the detection of infections. Studies have shown that standard definition for fever, 100.5 degrees F, is not sensitive to identify infections in elderly populations. The recommendation therefore is a fever of 99 degrees F or an increase of 2.4 degrees F from baseline. These changes in temperatures are also a significant indication that infection is present.

The collection of episodic temperatures in nursing home residents is challenging. The collection of baseline measurements for all residents is logistically unachievable. The continuous measurement of body temperature in any mobile population would be nearly impossible by any clinically standard means.

With the advent of microelectronics, long battery life, and wireless transmission, it is now possible to continuously measure, record and report body temperature.

What remains unknown is the feasibility and clinical utility of obtaining these measurements.

Therefore it is proposed that for a period of three months, residents of a single, long-term care facility have a wearable, thermometer applied to their skin. The medical-grade adhesive and thermometer will be changed every 2-3 days. The thermometer will provide continuous temperature measurement that will be sent wirelessly via Bluetooth to access points positioned throughout the facility.

The temperatures are reported wirelessly every minute and stored in a secure server. All participants and care providers are blinded to the temperature readings.

At the conclusion of the monitoring period, the temperature readings will be compared to the longitudinal healthcare record for each of the participants. Particular attention will be toward hospitalizations, antibiotics, nursing records, and clinic visits to determine episodes of infectious illness. ;

Study Design

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

Clinical Trial Details

NCT number	NCT03345277
Study type	Observational
Source	Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center
Contact
Status	Withdrawn
Phase
Start date	December 1, 2017
Completion date	April 30, 2019

View Details

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Clinical trials are conducted in a series of steps, called phases - each phase is designed to answer a separate research question.

Phase 1: Researchers test a new drug or treatment in a small group of people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
Phase 2: The drug or treatment is given to a larger group of people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Phase 3: The drug or treatment is given to large groups of people to confirm its effectiveness, monitor side effects, compare it to commonly used treatments, and collect information that will allow the drug or treatment to be used safely.
Phase 4: Studies are done after the drug or treatment has been marketed to gather information on the drug's effect in various populations and any side effects associated with long-term use.