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, 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 ? Average body temperature = °F

2. Does the gender affect body temperature ? Females have a higher body temperature than males. Average Male Temp = °F Average Female Temp = °F

3. Does the heart rate affect body temperature ? Body temperature increases with heart rate Temperature increases by 0.1 F when the heart rate increases by about 4 beats per minute (hr)

4. Probability distribution Normal distribution fits well to the observed data. Need more data to judge the fit.

5. Conclusions Average human body temperature is 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