Abstract
In the US, the normal, oral temperature of adults is, on average, lower than the canonical ° C established in the 19thcentury. We postulated that body temperature has decreased over time. Using measurements from three cohorts – the Union Army Veterans of the Civil War (N=(*********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, measurement years – the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I (N=17, (************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************; – 1988) , and the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment (N=(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, 296; 2008 – 2018 – we determined that mean body temperature in men and women, after adjusting for age, height, weight and, in some models date and time of day, has decreased monotonically by 0. 06 ° C per birth decade. A similar decline within the Union Army cohort as between cohorts, makes measurement error an unlikely explanation. This substantive and continuing shift in body temperature — a marker for metabolic rate — provides a framework for understanding changes in human health and longevity over 157 years.
Introduction
In (**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, the German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich obtained millions of axillary temperatures from 029, 0 patients in Leipzig, establishing establishing the standard for normal human body temperature of (° C or) ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************* 6 ° F (range : (2-) ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** 5 ° C [97.2- 99.5 °F] ) (Mackowiak, 2005;Wunderlich and Sequin, 1900. A compilation of (modern studies, however (Sund-Levander et al.,
The question of whether mean body temperature is changing over time is not merely a matter of idle curiosity. Human body temperature is a crude surrogate for basal metabolic rate which, in turn, has been linked to both longevity (higher metabolic rate, shorter life span) and body size (lower metabolism, greater body mass). We speculated that the differences observed in temperature between the ththcentury and today are real and that the change over time provides important physiologic clues to alterations in human health and longevity since the Industrial Revolution.
In men, we analyzed: a) (******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, measurements from the Union Army Veterans of the Civil War cohort (UAVCW) obtained between 1890 and 1936, b) measurements from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I cohort (NHANES) obtained between and (*****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, and c) (**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************, measurements from the Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment cohort (STRIDE) obtained between and (************************ (Table 1
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