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ARTICLE |

98.6°F FREE

John S. Edelsberg, MD, MPH
JAMA. 1993;269(10):1250-1250. doi:10.1001/jama.1993.03500100047014
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To the Editor.  —The recent study of normal body temperature by Mackowiak et al1 should help to discredit the special significance of 37.0°C (98.6°F)—surely the best known number in all of medicine, but one without any particular clinical relevance. As they suggest, no single value of mean body temperature has much clinical importance because of individual and population variability; it is much more useful to know the upper limits of normal for morning and evening, the trough and peak of the diurnal variation. For several reasons, however, the limits found in their study may underestimate the true upper limits of normal. First, women comprised only 17% of their study population, but probably have slightly higher upper limits of normal than do men. Second, because they recorded only the 6 PM and midnight temperatures of their subjects, they may have missed the evening maximum temperature, which a small but thorough

REFERENCES

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.
Mellette HC, Hutt BK, Askovitz SI, Horvath SM.  Diurnal variations in body temperatures. J Appl Physiol . 1951;;3:665-675.
Adam JM, Ferres HM.  Observations on oral and rectal temperatures in the humid tropics and in a temperate climate. J Physiol . 1954;;125:21P.
Thatcher PM.  98.6°F: what is normal. J Gerontol Nurs . 1983;;9:22-27.
Samet JH, Shevitz A, Fowle J, Singer DE.  Hospitalization decision in febrile intravenous drug users. Am J Med . 1990;;89:53-57.

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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.
Mellette HC, Hutt BK, Askovitz SI, Horvath SM.  Diurnal variations in body temperatures. J Appl Physiol . 1951;;3:665-675.
Adam JM, Ferres HM.  Observations on oral and rectal temperatures in the humid tropics and in a temperate climate. J Physiol . 1954;;125:21P.
Thatcher PM.  98.6°F: what is normal. J Gerontol Nurs . 1983;;9:22-27.
Samet JH, Shevitz A, Fowle J, Singer DE.  Hospitalization decision in febrile intravenous drug users. Am J Med . 1990;;89:53-57.
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To understand the clinical management of acute heart failure syndromes.
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