Pediatric Appendicitis Score in differential diagnosis of acute nonspecific abdominal pain in children: age matters

Abstract

Acute nonspecific abdominal pain in children is the most common problem requiring differential diagnosis with acute appendicitis. Scales for integrated assessment of individual symptoms and their combinations have been proposed and are constantly being developed that allow predicting the likelihood of acute appendicitis. Purpose to assess diagnostic value of Pediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) in groups of children in different ages. Materials and methods. 374 children aged 4 to 15 years with acute abdominal pain were evaluated in prospective randomized blinded study. Statistical analysis: ROC – curves, specificity and sensitivity, positive and negative predictive values; Kullback criteria; logistic regression analysis; discriminant analysis. Results. Detection frequency and diagnostic significance of the PAS scale predictors as well as obtained results by using the Pediatric Appendicitis Score depend on children age significantly. In terms of diagnosis of acute appendicitis, the PAS scale shows the best results in older children. Conclusions. Results of Pediatric Appendicitis Score depend on children ages due to different diagnostic value of predictors used in the PAS scale. Pediatric surgeons should keep in your mind these data. Modification of the scale is required taking into account the patient’s age. Further analysis of the issue of PAS using is needed. The research was carried out in accordance with the principles of the Helsinki Declaration. The study protocol was approved by the Local Ethics Committee of these Institutes. The informed consent of the patient was obtained for conducting the studies. The authors declare no conflicts of interests. Key words: acute appendicitis, children, diagnosis, PAS scale.