Jiménez Candel MI, Salvador Pinto T, García Peris M, Crehuá Gaudiza E, Jovaní Casano C, Moreno Ruiz MA, Hernández Bertó T, Largo Blanco E, Martínez Costa C. Usefulness of complementary test in the study of patients with chronic abdominal pain.
An Pediatr (Barc) 2021;
95:26-32. [PMID:
34092539 DOI:
10.1016/j.anpede.2020.04.021]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 04/11/2020] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) in children is a symptom that frequently leads to a visit to the paediatrician, which affects family life and occasionally requires the need to perform diagnostic studies (DS). The objective was to carry out a qualitative, quantitative, and economic analysis on the tests requested.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
An observational, prospective and multicentre study was conducted that included children between 4-15 years old affected by CAP. The difference between organic and functional disorders was taken into account. The following variables were collected: history, warning signs and symptoms, DS, and the cost of these.
RESULTS
The study included 235 children with CAP (Age; mean 9.7 ± 2.7 SD). The large majority (79%) were functional disorders and 21% organic disorders. Almost half of the patients had some warning sign or symptom, but urinary symptoms were only associated with organic disorders. The abdominal ultrasound, faecal parasites, breath test, and endoscopy were the most associated with organic disorders. There was a difference between the costs of the DS according to each centre. The total economic cost was 52,490.80 euros, with 195 euros per patient for functional disorders and 306 euros for organic disorders.
CONCLUSION
Signs and symptoms of alarm in CAP were very frequent, but had low discriminative capacity. The abdominal ultrasound and faecal parasites are innocuous DS, and could be useful as a first level study. The endoscopy and the breath test were the most discriminative of organic disease. The economic cost of DS arising from the diagnosis of exclusion in CAP was high.
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