Normal oral, rectal, tympanic and axillary body temperature in adult men and women: a systematic literature review The purpose of this study was to investigate normal body temperature in adult men and women. A systematic review of data was performed. Searches were carried out in MEDLINE, CINAHL, and manually from identified articles reference lists. Studies from 1935 to 1999 were included. Articles were classified as (1) strong, (2) fairly strong and (3) weak evidence. When summarizing studies with strong or fairly strong evidence the range for oral temperature was 33.2–38.2 °C, rectal: 34.4–37.8 °C, tympanic: 35.4– 37.8 °C and axillary: 35.5–37.0 °C. The range in oral temperature for men and women, respectively, was 35.7–37.7 and 33.2–38.1 °C, in rectal 36.7–37.5 and 36.8–37.1 °C, and in tympanic 35.5–37.5 and 35.7–37.5 °C. The ranges of normal body temperature need to be adjusted, especially for the lower values. When assessing body temperature it is important to take place of measurement and gender into consideration. Studies with random samples are needed to confirm the range of normal body temperature with respect to gender and age.

This paper presents reference values for two questionnaires measuring general health, the General Health Rating Index (GHRI) and the Health Index (HI) and one questionnaire measuring anxiety state, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-state). The sample used was randomly selected from a Swedish urban population consisting of 180 individuals (90 men, 90 women), divided into three age groups, 26-45, 46-65 and > 65 years. There was a main effect for age on the total GHRI score. The GHRI score was lower for older than for younger people, which is in agreement with earlier studies. For the HI there were main effects both for gender and age and no interaction was found. Although the sample size is small our result was in agreement to earlier studies and to health statistics in Sweden 1989. The health measures significantly correlated with the scores of anxiety inventory used. The total GHRI scores correlated positively and significantly with the HI scale (r = 0.7, p < 0.001). The GHRI and HI scales correlated negatively and significantly with the STAI scale (r = -0.4, p < 0.001, r = -0.4, p < 0.001) respectively. Thus, the better the general health the lower the rated anxiety. The value of health status measures in clinical research is reasonably well established, but their values for clinical care are less clear. The use for health index scores for quality assurance purpose is almost unexplored and could possibly be used for outcome measures in evaluating areas of nursing interventions. The short Health Index is one possible outcome measure.

The aims of this study were, first, to describe and compare the perceived well-being and general health, symptoms and coping ability of a group of patients with colo-rectal and gastric cancer before and after surgery; secondly, to describe the patients' perceptions of the hospital stay and their difficulties after discharge from the hospital; and thirdly, to investigate a possible relationship between sense of coherence and well-being. Seventy-nine (36 men, 43 women) consecutively selected patients diagnosed with colo-rectal or gastric cancer participated in the study. The Health Index (HI), the symptom checklist, the Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC scale), a study-specific questionnaire and a single item were used. Six weeks after surgery many of the cancer patients perceived that their well-being was poorer on the HI subscales energy, sleep and mobility than before. Bowel function had improved, and pain, which was a common symptom before surgery, was perceived as having lessened after surgery. Furthermore, the sense of coherence was shown to be related to the cancer patients' well-being as measured by the HI. Patients living with relatives rated their well-being as better than that of patients living alone. The problem areas identified after discharge concerned mobility, bowel function, fatigue, pain, nutrition, worry, difficulties in sleeping and problems with the wound. The instruments used in the study are seen as screening instruments to further structure the nursing-care plan, so that the patients' perceptions of the disease situation can also be taken into consideration.