Can the body mass index influence the skin temperature of adolescents assessed by infrared thermography?

Hamilton Henrique Teixeira Reis; Ciro José Brito; Manuel Sillero-Quintana; Alisson Gomes da Silva; Ismael Fernández-Cuevas; Matheus Santos Cerqueira; Francisco Zacaron Werneck; João Carlos Bouzas Marins

doi:10.1016/j.jtherbio.2022.103424

Can the body mass index influence the skin temperature of adolescents assessed by infrared thermography?

J Therm Biol. 2023 Jan:111:103424. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2022.103424. Epub 2022 Dec 7.

Authors

Hamilton Henrique Teixeira Reis¹, Ciro José Brito², Manuel Sillero-Quintana³, Alisson Gomes da Silva⁴, Ismael Fernández-Cuevas³, Matheus Santos Cerqueira⁵, Francisco Zacaron Werneck⁶, João Carlos Bouzas Marins⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil. Electronic address: hhteixeirareis@gmail.com.
² Departament of Physical Education, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Campus Governador Valadares, Brazil.
³ Sports Department Faculty of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences, Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil; Department of Physical Education, Escola Preparatória de Cadetes do Ar, Brazil.
⁵ Academic Department of Education, Federal Institute for Education, Sciences, and Technology Southeast of Minas Gerais, Rio Pomba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
⁶ Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil.
⁷ Department of Physical Education, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil.

PMID: 36585088
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2022.103424

Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a technology that has been used as an auxiliary tool in the diagnostic process of several diseases and in sports monitoring to prevent injuries. However, the evaluation of a thermogram can be influenced by several factors that need to be understood and controlled to avoid a misinterpretation of the thermogram and, consequently, an inappropriate clinical action. Among the possible factors that can affect IRT are anthropometric factors, especially those related to body composition. Based on these, our objective was to verify the influence of Body Mass Index (BMI) on skin temperature (Tsk) in male adolescents. One hundred male adolescents (age: 16.83 ± 1.08 years; body mass: 66.51 ± 13.35 kg; height: 1.75 ± 7.04 m and BMI: 21.57 ± 4.06 kg/m²) were evaluated and divided into three groups, based on the World Health Organization (WHO) proposed classification ranges: underweight (n = 33), normal weight (n = 34) and overweight/obesity (n = 34). Thermograms were obtained using the FLIR T420 thermal imager after a period of acclimatization of the subjects in a controlled environment (temperature: 21.3 ± 0.7 °C and humidity: 55.3 ± 2.2%); they were evaluated using the ThermoHuman® software, integrating the original regions of interest (ROI) into seven larger ROIs. The results showed that underweight individuals had higher Tsk values than normal weight and overweight/obese individuals for all evaluated ROIs, and overweight/obese individuals had lower Tsk values than normal weight individuals for most evaluated ROIs, except for arms region. BMI showed a correlation of -0.68 and -0.64 for the anterior and posterior regions of the trunk, respectively. Thermal normality tables were proposed for various ROIs according to BMI classification. Our study demonstrated that BMI can affect the Tsk values assessed by IRT and needs to be considered to interpret the thermograms.

Keywords: Adiposity; Body composition; Teenagers; Temperature mapping.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Body Mass Index
Humans
Male
Obesity
Overweight*
Skin Temperature*
Thermography
Thinness