Prospective evaluation of children presenting to the emergency with abdominal pain

Objektive: In childhood, abdominal pain is one of the most common complaints in emergency department and outpatient clinic admissions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the causes of abdominal pain, accompanying symptoms, history and physical examination findings and the effectiveness of other tests used in the diagnostic process in children presenting to the emergency department of our hospital with abdominal pain. Materials and Methods: Our study was prospective and included 100 patients aged 6-17 years who were admitted to the emergency department of Dicle University Medical Faculty Children's Hospital between 1 April 2024 and 1 January 2025 with abdominal pain and who met the inclusion criteria. Detailed anamnesis, physical examination findings and laboratory investigations were performed. The requested data about the patients were also collected in the consent form (Appendix-2). Patients with abdominal pain lasting less than three days were considered as acute abdominal pain. Patients with functional abdominal pain were classified according to Rome IV criteria. Results: Of the 100 patients we analysed, 47% were female. The mean age was calculated as 10.9±3.38 years. The most common additional symptoms were nausea (65%) and vomiting (56%). Defence was found in 26% of the patients. The number of patients with pain lasting less than one day was 48 (48%). Pediatric surgery consultation was requested in 38% of the patients and only 18 of these patients were diagnosed to undergo surgical intervention. The most common diagnosis was acute gastroenteritis with 29.3%, followed by acute appendicitis with 15.2% and functional abdominal pain with 13.1%. Nausea and right lower quadrant pain (p<0.05) were found to be higher in inpatients. Body temperature, creatinine and CRP levels were significantly higher in inpatients (p<0.05). Conclusion: It shows that abdominal pain is a common symptom in paediatric emergency department admissions and surgical intervention is not required in most cases. In most of the patients, the diagnosis could be easily made by clinical evaluation, anamnesis and physical examination. Keywords: Abdominal pain, paediatric patient, emergency department, aetiology