The effect of room temperature on erythrocyte sedimentation rate and its correction.

FIG. 1.-I, Section of"thermos" flask showing tube suspended in water. 2, Method of hanging tubes. 3, Method of sealing lower end of tube showing position of needle for filling. marked increase in rate purely due to increased room temperature. From July to October the reverse would occur. In the follow-up of tuberculosis this is of great importance. Many workers have noted that sedimentation rates vary with room temperatures. The early workers believed that the changes in room temperatures normally found did not affect the rate to a significant degree. Weingarten (1945), using Westergren's method, performed the test on each patient at 440 F. and 99° F. In many of the tubes at 44° F. he observed red blood cell clumping, causing sedimentation at a faster rate than in the tubes at 99° F., where clumping was not seen. By using an abnormally low temperature (44° F.) he was not able to show any relation between room temperature and sedimentation rates. Rogers (1946) showed that temperatures below 15° C. (59° F.) should never be used, as the results are not trustworthy. Wartman (1946) prepared a correction graph for variations in room temperature using the method of Wintrobe and Landsberg. From personal experiments using Westergren's technique, it was found that variations in room temperature affected sedimentation rates in