AI Article Synopsis

  • Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) often experience abdominal pain, which may be linked to various gastrointestinal (GI) issues, but there's limited data on how frequently this occurs or how it’s evaluated.
  • A study analyzed 1279 encounters of children with abdominal pain, finding that 23% were associated with such pain, particularly in older children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) and those with specific blood count parameters.
  • Less than half of these patients received a GI-specific evaluation in the emergency department, suggesting that improving these evaluations could help diagnose or rule out GI problems and expand the understanding of abdominal pain in SCD patients.

Article Abstract

Background: Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) frequently present with acute pain. The abdomen, a common site of acute SCD-related pain, may be present in a variety of gastrointestinal (GI) pathologies. Limited data exist on prevalence and workup of abdominal pain in patients with SCD during acute pain events.

Objectives: Determine prevalence of GI symptoms, GI-specific evaluation and risks of hospitalization in children with SCD presenting to the emergency department (ED) or hospitalized with abdominal pain.

Methods: Retrospective study of children less than 21 years presenting to the ED or hospitalized with pain in our center over 2 years. Descriptive statistics were used to report clinical characteristics, frequency of GI symptoms, workup by age (<5 vs. ≥5 years), and genotype (sickle cell anemia [SCA] vs. non-SCA). Logistic regression models were used to identify risks associated with hospitalization.

Results: A total of 1279 encounters in 378 patients were analyzed; 23% (n = 291) encounters were associated with abdominal pain. More abdominal pain-associated hospitalizations occurred in older children, SCA, children with lower mean hemoglobin (8.7 ± 1.9 vs. 9.6 ± 1.6 g/dL, p < .001) and higher mean white blood cell (WBC) count (14.9 ± 6.6 vs. 13.2 ± 5.3 × 10 /μL, p = .02). We identified that less than 50% of patients presenting to the ED with abdominal pain received a GI-specific evaluation.

Conclusion: Children with SCD frequently present with abdominal pain and other GI symptoms, with limited GI evaluations performed. GI-specific evaluation may increase diagnosis of GI pathologies, rule out GI pathologies, and contribute to the limited knowledge of the abdomen as a primary site of SCD pain.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pbc.30699DOI Listing

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