Rapidly declining body temperature in a tropical human population.
Sci Adv
; 6(44)2020 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33115745
Normal human body temperature (BT) has long been considered to be 37.0°C. Yet, BTs have declined over the past two centuries in the United States, coinciding with reductions in infection and increasing life expectancy. The generality of and reasons behind this phenomenon have not yet been well studied. Here, we show that Bolivian forager-farmers (n = 17,958 observations of 5481 adults age 15+ years) inhabiting a pathogen-rich environment exhibited higher BT when first examined in the early 21st century (~37.0°C). BT subsequently declined by ~0.05°C/year over 16 years of socioeconomic and epidemiological change to ~36.5°C by 2018. As predicted, infections and other lifestyle factors explain variation in BT, but these factors do not account for the temporal declines. Changes in physical activity, body composition, antibiotic usage, and thermal environment are potential causes of the temporal decline.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Body Temperature
/
Life Expectancy
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Aspects:
Patient_preference
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Adv
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States
Country of publication:
United States