Incidence of non-specific abdominal pain in children during school term: population survey based on discharge diagnoses
BMJ 1999; 318 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.318.7196.1455 (Published 29 May 1999) Cite this as: BMJ 1999;318:1455
This article has a correction. Please see:
- Nigel Williamsa, senior registrar in surgery (willnma@dircon.co.uk),
- Di Jacksonb, clinical information specialist,
- Paul C Lambertc, lecturer in medical statistics,
- J Michael Johnstonea, consultant surgeon
- a Department of Surgery, Leicester Royal Infirmary, Leicester LE1 5WW
- b Leicestershire Health Authority, Leicester LE5 4QF
- c University of Leicester, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Leicester LE1 6TP
- Correspondence to: Mr Williams
- Accepted 5 January 1999
Abdominal pain remains a common problem in childhood and often results in admission to hospital.1 Of these children, however, only 30-40% will require surgical intervention. 2 3 Most are discharged with a diagnosis of non-specific abdominal pain.4 To elucidate whether non-specific abdominal pain is more common during the school term compared with the school holiday we investigated the admission rates for non-specific abdominal pain and acute appendicitis throughout the school year.
Methods, analysis, and results
The one hospital in Leicester with provision for paediatric surgical care serves about 95% of Leicestershire's population of 173 000 children. Data were obtained from Leicestershire Health Authority for the 5 year period April 1992 to May 1997 in the form of finished consultant episodes for each year for children aged 5-15 years and analysed by weekly admissions for diagnoses and procedure codes. The dates of school …