A CORE BODY TEMPERATURE OF LESS THAN 95F REPRESENTS HYPOTHERMIA.

A CORE BODY TEMPERATURE OF LESS THAN 95F REPRESENTS HYPOTHERMIA. THE ELDERLY, BECAUSE OF DEFECTIVE HEAT CONSERVATION, DECREASED HEAT PRODUCTION, MEDICATIONS, IDIOSYNCRATIC RESPONSES TO ILLNESS, SUSCEPTIBILTY TO DISEASES THAT DISRUPT NEUROENDOCRINE FUNCTION, MALNUTRITION,AND SUB-STANDARD HOUSING ARE AT INCREASED RISK FOR HYPOTHERMIA. AMONG THE ELDERLY, HYPOTHERMIA SUBSTANTIALLY INCREASES MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY. A MAJOR OBSTACLE TO DETECTING HYPOTHERMIA IS THE LACK OF ACCURATE LOW-READING THERMOMETERS. MEASURING CORE BODY TEMPERATURE FROM THE TEMPERATURE OF FRESHLY VOIDED URINE HAS LONG BEEN ADVOCATED AS THE BEST MEANS TO SCREEN FOR HYPOTHERMIA; UNFORTUNATELY, LOW-READING URINARY THERMOMETERS DO NOT EXIST. THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A LOW-READING URINARY THERMOMETER FOR DETECTING HYPOTHERMIA. GOALS OF PHASE I ARETO DEVELOP AND TEST IN VITRO A CHEMICAL TEMPERATURE SENSOR TO DETECT FLUID TEMPERATURES OF 95F OR GREATER. IN PHASE II, PROTOTYPE LOW-READING URINARY THERMOMETERS TO MEASURE TEMPERATURES BETWEEN 90 AND 95F IN 0.5 INCREMENTS WILL BE PRODUCED AND TESTED IN SUBJECTS AT RISK FOR HYPOTHERMIA.