Análise comparativa das temperaturas das polpas digitais entre gestantes hipertensas e normativas usando termografia de infravermelho

Abstract

The Brasilian Healt Ministry data points out arterial hypertension (AH) as the major cause of maternal death, representing 35% of 140-160 maternal deaths for 100.000 alive newborns. Its origin remains a cause for discussion. Looking for new elements that may improve the understanding of that pathology, we studied the skin fingertips mean temperature (Tp) of pregnant women, 50 normotense (group A) and 31 hypertense (group B). The values of temperature were obtained using infrared thermography. Pearson correlation coefficient showed positive relationship between mean arterial pressure and systolic pressure (r= 0,95), diastolic arterial pressure (r=0,98) and for Tp (r=0,98 ). Student t test was statistically significant (p = 0,002) when comparing means of groups A and B. Other statistical tests obtained were: sensibility 80%, specificity de 48%, positive predictive value 49%, negative predictive value 80% and accuracy 60,5%. The chance of a pregnant woman become hypertensive is 1,6 times higher when her Tp is equal or higher then 34,1ºC. The analyzed data indicate that Tp values of pregnant women measured with infrared thermography is statistically smaller in the group of non hypertense and that may it might become a good method to detect pregnant women with high risk to become hypertensive during pregnancy.