R D Goldman

Dr R D Goldman, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; rgoldman@cw.bc.ca

STUDY QUESTION

In children presenting to the emergency department (ED) with abdominal pain, does the Paediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) accurately identify those with and without appendicitis?

STUDY DESIGN

Design:

prospective cohort study to validate a previously derived clinical prediction score.

Setting:

tertiary paediatric ED in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Patients:

849 children 1–17 years of age who presented to the ED with abdominal pain of <7 days duration. Children with ultrasonographic or computed tomographic diagnosis of appendicitis or previous appendectomy were excluded.

Description of prediction guide:

the PAS (range 0–10) assigns 1 point (unless otherwise noted) for each component present: Migration of pain, Anorexia, Nausea/vomiting, right-lower-quadrant Tenderness (2 points), Cough/percussion/hopping tenderness (2 points), Elevated temperature (fever >38°C), Leucocytosis >10 000 cells/mm³, and polymorphonuclear neutrophilia >7500 cells/mm³.* The original derivation study of the …