A study by Stanford University scientists has challenged the established medical standard of an average body temperature of 36.6°C. Their work suggests that the body temperature of healthy people ranges from 36.2°C to 38.8°C, making the traditional value obsolete.
How and why does average temperature change?
The study results showed that the average human body temperature has decreased by 0.5°C over the past two centuries. Scientists attribute this to improvements in living conditions, medicine, hygiene and the general health of the population.
Dr. Julie Parsonnet, an infectious disease expert, noted:
"Physiologically, we have become different than we were in the 19th century.".
The change in average temperature has important practical implications, especially for diagnosing fever and other conditions. The new information could influence the revision of medical protocols, as the idea of a “normal” temperature now depends more on the individual characteristics of the person.
Scientists analyzed more than 618,000 temperature measurements collected between 2008 and 2017. For accuracy, they excluded data that could be affected by diseases and applied modern algorithms.
In addition, the research team reviewed trends in body temperature changes over the past 200 years, comparing modern data with those collected in the 19th century.
This discovery has important implications for medicine. Instead of a single “average” temperature, doctors will have to take into account more individual patient fluctuations. For modern diagnostics, this means that the concepts of “fever” or “normal temperature” must now be assessed more flexibly.
Knowing the true range of body temperature changes the perception of human health. It may be necessary to change basic diagnostic standards or even everyday habits, such as regularly measuring temperature, in the future.
This discovery once again reminds us that even established “axioms” can change when science gives us new knowledge.
