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Question
In children with acute abdominal pain (patient) does the clinical appendicitis score (test) rule in or rule out appendicitis (outcome)?
Methods
Design
Prospective cohort study of children aged 1–17 years.
Setting
Tertiary, urban paediatric emergency department in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with 50 000 presentations per year.
Patients
Children aged 1–17 years with a chief complaint of abdominal pain of less than 7 days' duration. Children with a known diagnosis of appendicitis on arrival (by ultrasound or CT), pain of more than 7 days' duration or a previous history of appendicectomy were excluded.
Diagnostic strategy
A previously described Paediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) (Samuel's Score1) was administered prospectively. This score collates clinical and laboratory information obtained from an initial consultation. The final diagnosis of …
Footnotes
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Ethics approval None.
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Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.