Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increasing rollout of non-contact fever screening solutions to assist in curbing the spread of disease. This study begins by describing how screening for disease has historically been performed. It proposes four measurement characteristics of an ideal screening solution: non-contact, effective, rapid and low-cost measurements. Next, it reviews the existing literature on fever-screening using non-contact infrared thermometer (NCIT) devices as well as infrared thermography (IRT) devices, as these are two technologies which have experienced increasing use. For this review, 185 research papers were identified, 21 research studies were included after inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. A total of 35 experiments were identified for analysis and their results tabulated. Of these studies, 66% are IRT and 34% are NCIT, with a median sample size of 430 subjects. 26 experiments involve febrile participants, with a median febrile percentage of 11.22 % of population. The reported sensitivity of febrile detection using NCIT varies from 3.7% to 97% and when using IRT it varies from 15% to 100%. Both indoor and outdoor studies are investigated, as well as those conducted in acute and non-acute settings. The results of this review show a clear lack of consensus on the effectiveness of these systems. Overall, these results indicate that sensitivity and specificity are reduced when using IRT and NCIT technologies compared to other thermometers used in medical practice. Their use should be carefully assessed based on the risks present in each particular measurement scenario.
Highlights
THE World Health Organization characterized the COVID19 novel coronavirus as a global pandemic in 2020 [1].Millions of individuals have been detected carrying the disease in over 200 countries/territories, and the death-toll has risen to millions [2]
It is of concern that the study of infrared thermography (IRT) systems with the largest number of participants included in this review only found a 15% sensitivity when compared to the reference
The benefit of this study is that there exists a comprehensive review which synthesizes the available evidence on non-contact infrared thermometer (NCIT) and IRT technologies for fever-screening
Summary
Millions of individuals have been detected carrying the disease in over 200 countries/territories, and the death-toll has risen to millions [2]. In an attempt to curb and reduce the spread of the disease, governments all over the globe have taken significant, and often unprecedented steps to limit the behavior of their citizens through: imposing limits on gatherings, requiring mandatory testing, restricting travels, as well as enforcing mandatory quarantine for citizens moving over borders both nationally and internationally [3]–[5]. A. Valentine is with the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. T. Bucknall is with the School of Nursing & Midwifery, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia, and Nursing Services, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Australia, and the Centre for Quality and Patient Safety - Alfred Health Partnership, Institute for Health Transformation
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
