The importance initial body temperature in critically ill trauma patients on to ICUs in prediction of the outcome

Introduction: Different studies on evaluation of the outcome of multiple trauma patients have found many influential factors. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of axilary body temperature with mortality in patients with multiple traumas hospitalized in the intensive care units and other clinical and paraclinical factors. Materials and Methods: This is a cohort study. All the patients between 16 and 75 years old with multiple traumas who were admitted to the ICU of Rasoul Akram Hospital from 21st of March 2008 till 20th of March 2009 were included in the study. Axillary temperature in the first and 2nd days of admission, Glasgow cola scale (GCS), systolic blood pressure, serum glucose levels and white blood cell counts of all patients at the first day were recorded and their relationships with each other and with the outcome were analyzed. Results: 93 patients were included in the study. Axillary body temperature in the first and second days showed a statistically significant relationship with mortality and GCS. Lower body temperature was led to an increase in mortality, less GCS and systolic blood pressure. Conclusion: Our results show that axillary body temperature in the first day of multiple trauma patients can be a reliable indicator of their final outcome. Patients with higher body temperature will experience better outcome than those with lower body temperature.