Estimating Resting Core Temperature Using Heart Rate

ECTemp ™ is a heart rate (HR)-based core temperature (CT) estimation algorithm mainly used as a real-time thermal-work strain indicator in military populations. ECTemp ™ may also be valuable for resting CT estimation, which is critical for circadian rhythm research. This investigation developed and incorporated a sigmoid equation into ECTemp ™ to better estimate resting CT. HR and CT data were collected over two calorimeter test trials from 16 volunteers (age, 23 ± 3 yrs; height, 1.72 ± 0.07 m; body mass, 68.5 ± 8.1 kg) during periods of sleep and inactivity. Half of the test trials were combined with ECTemp ™ ’s original development dataset to train the new sigmoid model while the other was used for model validation. Models were compared by their estimation accuracy and precision. While both models produced accurate CT estimates, the sigmoid model had a smaller bias (−0.04 ± 0.26°C vs. −0.19 ± 0.29°C) and root mean square error (RMSE; 0.26°C vs. 0.35°C). ECTemp ™ is a validated HR-based resting CT estimation algorithm. The new sigmoid equation corrects lower CT estimates while producing nearly identical estimates to the original quadratic equation at higher CT. The demonstrated accuracy of ECTemp ™ encourages future research to explore the algorithm’s potential as a non-invasive means of tracking CT circadian rhythms.