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Observational Study
. 2022 Jan 19;92(6):e2021341.
doi: 10.23750/abm.v92i6.11212.

The impact of constipation on pediatric emergency department: a retrospective analysis of the diagnosis and management

Antonio Gatto  1 , Antonietta Curatola  2 , Serena Ferretti  3 , Lavinia Capossela  4 , Lorenzo Nanni  5 , Claudia Rendeli  6 , Antonio Chiaretti  7
Affiliations
Observational Study

The impact of constipation on pediatric emergency department: a retrospective analysis of the diagnosis and management

Antonio Gatto et al. Acta Biomed. .

Abstract

Background and aim: Functional constipation (FC) represents 95% of pediatric constipation cases. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of Functional Constipation in children admitted to Pediatric Emergency Department (ED) with acute abdominal pain, the demographic factors associated, the use of imaging exams and laboratory tests.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted on 4100 medical records of children aged 0 to 18 years.

Results: Among children with abdominal pain, 11.3% of them had a discharge diagnosis of constipation and 45.5% underwent imaging exams. Most of children (93.9%) were discharged with home therapy and 6.5% of patients needed of additional visits. In ED 6.7% of patients underwent enema, 45.2% were discharged with indication to perform it at home.

Conclusions: FC is a medical condition that could be managed in the outpatient setting, even if we observed a significant percentage of cases in ED. We observed over-utilization of radiologic tests, whereas the diagnosis should be clinical.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The figure shows the flowchart of the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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