Pediatric Joint Inflammation Detection Using Smartphone-Based Infrared Thermography: A Prospective Study.

This study evaluated the potential of smartphone-based infrared thermography for detecting joint inflammation in pediatric patients with rheumatic diseases. The patient group (M/F: 19/21) had a mean age of 10.98 ± 5.02 years, while the control group (M/F: 19/10) had a mean age of 11.69 ± 4.89 years. Thermal analysis revealed significantly higher T-max and T-ave temperatures in arthritis patients compared to healthy controls. For affected knees, T-max was 34.25 ± 1.34°C versus 32.70 ± 1.14°C in unaffected knees (P = .002). Logistic regression showed that each 1°C increase in knee T-ave increased the likelihood of arthritis by approximately 17.959 times (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.57-49.07, P < .0005), and each 1°C increase in ankle T-ave raised the likelihood by 5.108 times (95% CI: 2.99-8.73, P < .0005). These findings suggest that infrared thermography is a promising adjunct tool for noninvasive diagnosis in pediatric rheumatology.