Determination of distal temperature using infrared thermography in Mexican children with diabetes

Diabetes mellitus causes temperature alterations in the body. Proper treatment and follow-up can prevent serious complications. In this work, a case-control study was conducted with 16 children with diabetes mellitus type I and II and 25 healthy children attending a public hospital in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Distal-to-proximal and bilateral temperature gradients were calculated from thermograms of each subject's arms, hands, and feet. A significant difference was found between the healthy groups and those with diabetes mellitus in the distal-to-proximal temperature gradient of the upper limbs on both the right side (p = 0.0011) and left side (p = 0.0005), as well as in the bilateral temperature gradient of the palms (p = 0.0084). Our results show a temperature difference in the upper extremities of children with diabetes but not in the lower extremities. Monitoring those temperature gradients could help evaluate the evolution of the disease, thus improving the clinical assessment of these patients.