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Thermoregulation/Environment

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Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics

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Children and adults maintain a constant deep body temperature over a wide range of ambient thermal conditions (homeothermic). This is achieved by physiological and behavioral responses that control the rate at which heat is produced and lost. The newborn infant is also homeothermic but control of body temperature can only be achieved over a narrower range of ambient conditions. The preterm infant has even greater difficulty in body temperature control, and the most immature infants behave at times as if they are poikilothermic – their body temperature tending to drift up and down with the ambient temperature. The aim in neonatal care is to provide a thermal environment which keeps body temperature in the normal range, and which does not stress the infant to produce or lose large amounts of heat.

The importance of thermoregulation in the newborn has been recognized for a long time. In late nineteenth century Paris, Tarnier, and Budin reduced by half the mortality of infants, under 2,000...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, EH16 4SU, Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK

    Andrew James Lyon

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  1. Andrew James Lyon
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Correspondence to Andrew James Lyon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

    Abdelaziz Y. Elzouki (Professor of Pediatrics) (Professor of Pediatrics)

  2. National Center of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (NCAAI), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Harb A. Harfi (Director) (Director)

  3. Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Islamic Hospital, Amman, Jordan

    Hisham M. Nazer

  4. Seattle Children's Hospital University of Washington, School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA

    F. Bruder Stapleton (Professor and Chair Department of Pediatrics) (Professor and Chair Department of Pediatrics)

  5. Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Woman and Infants Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    William Oh (Professor of Pediatrics) (Professor of Pediatrics)

  6. University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Richard J. Whitley (Professor of Pediatrics) (Professor of Pediatrics)

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Lyon, A.J. (2012). Thermoregulation/Environment. In: Elzouki, A.Y., Harfi, H.A., Nazer, H.M., Stapleton, F.B., Oh, W., Whitley, R.J. (eds) Textbook of Clinical Pediatrics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02202-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02202-9_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02201-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02202-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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