The purpose of this study was to define the temporal trend in body temperature of patients during the first 5 days after total hip arthroplasty (THA). The medical records of 98 consecutive THAs were reviewed, 88 clinically uncomplicated cases were included. The average maximum temperature reached during the study period was 38.08 degrees C, a 3.7% (P< or =.01) increase from the preoperative base line of 36.64 degrees C. In this study, 62.5% of patients reached a temperature > or =38.0 degrees C; 19.3% > or = 38.5 degrees C; and 3.4% > or = 39.0 degrees C. No patients had a preoperative temperature of > or =38 degrees C recorded. On the first postoperative day, 39 patients had a temperature > or =38 degrees C. The number of febrile patients progressively decreased until by the fifth postoperative day, only 5 patients had a temperature > or =38 degrees C recorded.