Transcript HUMAN BODY TEMPERATURE Myths and Facts

HUMAN BODY TEMPERATURE
Myths and Facts
Chanchala Srivastava
PROBABILITY & STATISTICS
Course Project
Brandeis University
Summer 2003
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
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.
Myth and Facts
Myth : NORMAL BODY TEMP. IS 98.6°F (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 98.6°F is a fever.
Fact :
Normal temperatures can go up to 100°F (100.3°F for rectal). This
often happens in the evening or after exercise in hot weather.
1.
Is the true population mean 98.6 °F ?
Body Temperature Histogram
96.2
96.4
96.6
96.8
97
97.2
97.4
97.6
97.8
98.
98.2
98.4
98.6
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99.4
99.6
99.8
100 100.2 100.4 100.6 100.8
101
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People
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10
6
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3
3
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1
0
96.2
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96.6
1
0
96.8
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97.2
97.4
97.6
97.8
98.
98.2
98.4
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99.2
99.4
99.6
99.8
0
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100 100.2 100.4 100.6 100.8
Temperature
Average body temperature = 98.25 °F
0
101
2.
Does the gender affect body temperature ?
Male Body Temperature Histogram
96.2
96.4
96.6
96.8
97
97.2
97.4
97.6
97.8
98.
98.2
98.4
98.6
98.8
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99.6
99.8
Female Body Temperature Histogram
100 100.2 100.4 100.6 100.8
101
96.2
96.4
96.6
96.8
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98.2
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99.6
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100 100.2 100.4 100.6 100.8
101
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Females
Males
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0
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97.4
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98.2
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Temperature
Average Male Temp = 98.10 °F
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101
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96.6
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96.8
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97.2
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97.8
98.
98.2
98.4
98.6
98.8
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99.2
99.4
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99.6
99.8
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100 100.2 100.4 100.6 100.8
Temperature
Average Female Temp = 98.39 °F
Females have a higher body temperature than males.
0
101
3.
Does the heart rate affect body temperature ?
Temperature vs Heart_Rate
102
101
Temperature
100
96.3+.02(hr)
99
98
97
96
60
70
80
90
100
Heart_Rate
Body temperature increases with heart rate
Temperature increases by 0.1 F when the heart rate increases by about 4 beats per minute
4. Probability distribution
Probability versus Temperature
1
Probability
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
96
97
98
99
Temperature
100
101
102
Normal distribution fits well to the observed data.
Need more data to judge the fit.
5. Conclusions
• Average human body temperature is 98.25 and not 98.6 F
• On an average, female body temperature is hotter than male’s
• 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