Reproducibility of skin temperature analyses by novice and experienced evaluators using infrared thermography

Abstract

Infrared thermography (IRT) has become popular in several areas of knowledge. However, the analyses of thermal images often request manual actions, and little is known about the effect of the evaluator's experience on analysis thermal images. Here, we determine the reproducibility of IRT images analysis performed by evaluators with different levels of experience. Eight evaluators (GE, group experienced, n = 4; GN, group novice, n = 4) analyzed thermograms from 40 healthy participants recorded before and after exercise to determine the mean, minimum, maximum, standard deviation, and range of skin temperature in the anterior thigh and posterior leg. Before and after exercise, mean temperature showed excellent reproducibility for both groups for the anterior thigh (ICC >0.98) and posterior leg (ICC >0.94), and maximum temperature showed excellent reproducibility for both groups in the posterior leg (ICC >0.91). The influence of experience level was not significant considering the anterior thigh. Similarly, experience level did not affect the mean, maximum, and standard deviation temperature determined for the posterior leg. For the posterior leg, minimum temperature presented lower values and the range was higher among novice evaluators. Mean skin temperature showed narrower 95% limits of agreement than minimum and maximum for both regions and moments. Caution is advised when temperature ranges and minimums are determined by different evaluators. We conclude that for IRT analysis by evaluators with different levels of experience, the mean and maximum temperatures should be prioritized due to their better reproducibility.