Comparative approach to non-traumatic acute abdominal pain between elderly and non-elderly in the emergency department: a study in rural Greece

[The abdominal pain unit as a treatment pathway : Structured care of patients with atraumatic abdominal pain in the emergency department]

BACKGROUND

Patients with atraumatic abdominal pain are common in the emergency department and have a relatively high hospital mortality, with a very wide spectrum of different causes. Rapid, goal-directed diagnosis is essential in this context.

METHODS

In a Delphi process with representatives of different disciplines, a diagnostic treatment pathway was designed, which is called the Abdominal Pain Unit (APU).

RESULTS

The treatment pathway was designed as an extended event process chain. Crucial decision points were specified using standard operating procedures.

DISCUSSION

The APU treatment pathway establishes a consistent treatment structure for patients with atraumatic abdominal pain. It has the potential to improve the quality of care and reduce intrahospital mortality over the long term.

Acute abdominal pain in older adults: a clinical and diagnostic challenge

INTRODUCTION

Abdominal pain (AP) is one of the most frequent clinical condition observed in elderly patients. The differential diagnosis is wide and definitive diagnosis is often difficult due to delayed symptoms, altered laboratory parameters, pre-existing medical disorders, abuse of drugs and in absence of an accurate medical history.

EVIDENCE ACQUISITION

A systematic literature review was carried out through PubMed database for studies published in the last ten years. The following search string was used: {("geriatric"[Title] OR "older"[Title] OR "aged"[Title] OR "elderly"[Title]) AND ((("abdomen"[Title] AND "acute"[Title]) OR "acute abdomen"[Title] OR ("acute"[Title] AND "abdomen"[Title])) OR ("abdominal"[Title] AND "pain"[title]) OR "abdominal pain"[Title])}. Full articles and abstracts were included. Case reports, commentaries, editorials and letters were excluded from the analysis.

EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS

As the age of people presenting AP advances, both rates of surgical procedures and mortality rate increase.

CONCLUSIONS

A systematic approach based on the organization of differential diagnoses into categories, may provide a helpful framework by the combined use of history-taking, physical examination, and results of diagnostic studies. In elderly patients admitted to the emergency department, a crucial role is played by a prompt use of radiological investigations in order to discriminate between older subjects admitted to the emergency department with abdominal pain and pathological cases requiring immediate surgical treatment.

Significance of Intra-abdominal Free Fluid Detected in Ultrasonography in the Clinical Assessment and Outcomes of Adult Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department Due to Abdominal Pain

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic process and clinical course in adult patients who presented to the emergency department (ED) with acute abdominal pain (AAP) and were found to have intra-abdominal free fluid (FF) on ultrasonography (USG). Methods This prospective observational study was conducted in a training and research hospital adult emergency department between March 15, 2013, and April 15, 2013. The study included 252 patients aged above 18 years, who were admitted to the emergency room complaining of non-traumatic acute abdominal pain and provided consent for the study. Results The most common diagnoses were acute, nonspecific abdominal pain (37.3%), acute appendicitis (19%), and urinary tract pathology (15.9%). Intra-abdominal free fluid was detected with ultrasonography in 42.5% of patients. Patients with intra-abdominal free fluid were younger than the other patients. The emergency department length of stay was longer in patients with intra-abdominal free fluid (p=0.011). Of the 252 patients enrolled in the study, 32.9% were admitted to the hospital, 21.4% of whom underwent surgery and 11.5% received medical therapy. Most of the patients (64.5%) who were discharged home had no intra-abdominal free fluid in the ultrasonography (p<0.001). Conclusion The presence of intra-abdominal free fluid alone did not guide the clinical decision regarding the diagnostic evaluation of adult patients that presented to the emergency department complaining of non-traumatic acute abdominal pain.

One-Month Follow-Up of Patients with Unspecified Abdominal Pain Referring to the Emergency Department; a Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION

About one third of patients referring to emergency department (ED) with abdominal pain, are discharged without a definite diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the one-month outcome of patients with unspecified abdominal pain.

METHODS

This cohort study was conducted on subjects who were evaluated in ED with unspecified abdominal pain and were referred to the gastroenterology clinic and followed for one month. Finally, they were divided into two groups of cases with clear cause of abdominal pain and unclear cause of abdominal pain and patients' characteristics were compared between the groups.

RESULTS

150 cases with the mean age of 40.68 ± 18.34 years were studied (53.3% female). After one month, 67 (44.7%) patients still complained of abdominal pain. A definitive cause of abdominal pain was established in 88 (58.7%) cases. There was not any significant difference between groups regarding, sex distribution (p = 012), duration of pain (p = 0.11), history of previous similar pain (p = 0.136), pain radiation (p = 0.737), length of hospital stay (p = 0.51), and presence of anorexia (p = 0.09), nausea and vomiting (p= 0.50), fever (p = 1.0), diarrhea (p = 0.23), and constipation (p = 0.07). There was a significant difference between the groups regarding location of pain (p = 0.017), age (p = 0.001) and history of comorbid diseases (p = 0.046). The predictive factors of finding a clear cause for abdominal pain in one-month follow-up, were leukocytosis (OR: 5.92 (95% CI: 2.62 - 13.39); p < 0.001), age (OR: 2.78 (95% CI: 1.15 - 6.71); p = 0.023), and outpatient follow-up (OR: 1.04 (95% CI: 1.02 - 1.07); p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Approximately, 40% of patients who were discharged with unspecified abdominal pain did not receive a clear diagnosis after one month of follow-up. Older age, leucocytosis in initial evaluations, and outpatient follow-up increased the probability of finding a clear cause for abdominal pain in the mentioned cases.

Investigation of Geriatric Patients with Abdominal Pain Admitted to Emergency Department

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to detect the possible reasons of abdominal pain in the patients aged 65 and older admitted to emergency department (ED) with complaint of abdominal pain which is not related to trauma, to determine the length of hospitalization of old (65-75 age) and elderly (aged 75 and older) patients, and to define the hospitalization and mortality rates.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In the study, 336 patients were included. Groups were compared in respect to gender, internal or surgical prediagnoses, complaints accompanying abdominal pain, vital findings, comorbidities, requested consultations, hospitalizing service, waiting time in the ED and in the hospital, and treatment methods.

RESULTS

Of the patients, 48.2% were male, and 51.8% were female. While 52.4% of the patients were in 65-74 age group, 47.6% of them were aged 75 years and above. An internal disease was detected in 76.8% of the patients as an origin of abdominal pain. Most common prediagnoses were biliary diseases and diseases related to biliary tract followed by nonspecific abdominal pain, abdominal pain secondary to malignity, ileus, and acute gastroenteritis, respectively. The most frequent finding accompanying abdominal pain was vomiting. The most frequent chronic disease accompanying abdominal pain was hypertension in both age groups. We observed that 75.9% of the patients required consultation. We detected that 48.8% of the patients with abdominal pain were hospitalized and they were hospitalized mostly by gastroenterology ward (24.8%). Surgical treatments were applied to the 17.6% of the patients with abdominal pain.

CONCLUSION

Clinical findings become indistinct by age, and differential diagnosis of abdominal pain gets more difficult in geriatric patients. Therefore, physicians should consider age related physiological changes in order to distinguish geriatric patients admitted to emergency service with abdominal pain from pathological cases requiring immediate surgical operation.

Patients Presenting to the Emergency Unit with Gynaecological Lower Abdominal Pain, with and without Pathological Clinical Findings - Service Utilisation, Pain History, Implications

Introduction: Few studies have evaluated the utilisation of emergency gynaecological services, although lower abdominal pain (LAP) is one of the most common symptoms prompting emergency presentation. Although such pain may be caused by potentially life-threatening gynaecological diseases, very often no clinical cause is found. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of emergency presentations in order to enable quicker identification of real emergencies in routine clinical practice. Materials and Methods: Standardised, so-called first aid cards of 1066 consecutive patients with LAP presenting acutely to one emergency unit were analysed in this retrospective, cross-sectional study. Results: Over one third of cases did not constitute actual medical emergencies on objective criteria, with investigations yielding "no pathological findings". Parameters were identified that more often lead to hospital admission, e.g. palpation of a mass/resistance or at least one pathological ultrasound finding. In addition, it was found that symptoms of longer duration (average 8 days), and not only acute LAP, were also often experienced by patients as emergencies. Conclusion: A diagnosis of "no pathological findings", which was common in our study, suggests a subjective experience of an emergency from the patient's point of view, although the possibility of unrecognised pathology has to be borne in mind. Apart from functional disorders, the origins of symptoms may include psychosomatic causes and psychosocial problems, which cannot be further defined in the emergency care setting. Also, the phenomenon of increased utilisation of emergency services parallel to the assumed opening hours of routine outpatient care facilities must be seen in a critical light.