Percentile-based infrared thermography for community screening of foot thermal abnormalities
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Abstract
Background: Screening support of foot health abnormalities is essential for preventing complications associated with vascular and metabolic disorders. Infrared thermography provides a noninvasive method for assessing spatial temperature variations related to microvascular perfusion and inflammatory processes; however, standardized frameworks for interpretation in community settings remain limited.
Objectives: To develop a percentile-based thermographic framework for evaluating foot thermal patterns and to investigate the relationship between thermographic indices and underlying vascular-ischemic and metabolicinflammatory processes in a community population.
Materials and methods: Plantar foot temperature images were obtained using infrared thermography. Normative temperature references were established, and thermographic burden indices representing ischemic and inflammatory patterns were derived based on percentile thresholds. Principal component analysis (PCA) and logistic regression were performed to identify thermographic patterns and evaluate predictive performance.
Results: Most participants demonstrated low thermographic burden, while a subset exhibited elevated indices. PCA identified two principal components corresponding to metabolic-inflammatory and vascular-ischemic dimensions. The combined thermographic model demonstrated moderate discriminative performance (AUC=0.714, 95% CI: 0.631-0.790), with a sensitivity of 74.2% and specificity of 65.0% at the optimal cutoff.
Conclusion: A percentile-based thermographic framework enables objective characterization of foot thermal abnormalities and provides insight into vascular-ischemic and metabolic-inflammatory thermal patterns. The integration of thermographic indices with multivariate and predictive analyses supports their potential as noninvasive tools for risk stratification and community-based screening of foot health abnormalities.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Personal views expressed by the contributors in their articles are not necessarily those of the Journal of Associated Medical Sciences, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University.
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