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Epidemiology of musculoskeletal pain in a pediatric emergency department

  • Original Article - Epidemiology of RMD
  • Published:
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Abstract

The objectives of this study were (1) to determine the percentage of emergency department (ED) visits due to musculoskeletal pain (MSP) by children 3–14 years of age during a period of 1 year; (2) to determine the most frequent presenting complaints; and (3) to characterize their etiology. A cross-sectional study was performed on children aged 3–1411/12 years attended at the ED of a tertiary hospital due to MSP. The demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were reviewed 5 days each month for 12 consecutive months. Study days were selected by computer-generated simple random sampling. Out of 4,531 visits to the ED, 826 were due to MSP (18.2 %; 95 % CI 17.1–19.4 %). When compared with children with no skeletal complaints, children with MSP had a similar sex distribution but were older (mean ± SD 7 ± 3.5 years vs 9.9 ± 3.1 years; p < 0.0001). The most common complaints were pain at the wrist (19 %), ankle (19 %) and finger (15 %). The most common etiology was trauma (88.4 %), including contusions (38 %), fractures (21 %) and sprains (18 %). Children with hip (6.7 ± 3 years; p < 0.0001) and elbow (7.8 ± 3.5 years; p < 0.0001) complaints were younger than children with pain in other locations, whereas children with wrist pain (10.5 ± 2.6 years; p < 0.002) and joint sprains (10.7 ± 2.7 years; p < 0.0001) were older. Fractures were more frequent in boys (64 vs 36 %, p = 0.008; OR 1.6; CI 1.1–2.2). Visits to the ED due to MSP increased with age. Pain at three locations represented 50 % of the presenting complaints. Trauma was the principal etiology, but fractures only represented one-fifth of the total.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

ED:

Emergency department

MSP:

Musculoskeletal pain

OR:

Odds ratio

PPCC:

Pediatric primary care clinics

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Rheumatology Unit, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Avda/Córdoba s/n, 28041, Madrid, Spain

    Jaime de Inocencio

  2. Emergency Department, Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Ángel Carro, Marta Flores, Carmen Carpio, Sofía Mesa & Milagros Marín

Authors
  1. Jaime de Inocencio
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  2. Miguel Ángel Carro
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  3. Marta Flores
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  5. Sofía Mesa
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Correspondence to Jaime de Inocencio.

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de Inocencio, J., Carro, M.Á., Flores, M. et al. Epidemiology of musculoskeletal pain in a pediatric emergency department. Rheumatol Int 36, 83–89 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3335-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-015-3335-9

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