Thermographic analysis of the periorbital region in mouth and nasal breathing children.
Júlia Ana Soares Silva, Amanda Freitas Valentim, Yasmim Carvalho Telson and 6 others
PMID 40008780WHAT IT FOUND
No difference in temperature around the eyes was found between mouth-breathing and nasal-breathing children.
Ocular edema was associated with higher temperatures in mouth-breathing children, but this was a secondary finding.
Key findings
01The main temperature comparison found a significant difference only for the standardized minimum upper-left orbit temperature.
02Maximum temperatures around the eyes had moderate to excellent agreement between evaluators, while minimum temperatures had poor to moderate agreement.
03In mouth-breathing children, ocular edema was associated with several temperature measures.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study was exploratory and small, with 28 children. The mouth-breathing group had mixed causes, including allergy, obstruction, mixed conditions, and habitual breathing, which may affect temperature. The only significant group temperature difference was in a minimum temperature measure that had poor agreement. The edema association was based on four children with edema and was a secondary analysis. The study compared many temperature measures with several symptoms in the mouth-breathing group. This was an observational cross-sectional study, so it compared existing groups rather than assigning treatment.
Declared interests
The authors reported no financial support and no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the standardized minimum upper-left orbit temperature difference as proof that mouth breathing changes eye-area temperature. It was the only significant group difference, but the authors said this measure had poor agreement and was not enough to conclude a group difference.