ArticleBMC gastroenterology2020
Aetiologies and outcomes of patients with abdominal pain presenting to an emergency department of a tertiary hospital in Tanzania: a prospective cohort study.
Article in BMC gastroenterology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence and mortality rate of abdominal surgical emergencies in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC surgery · 2024Pooled it
- Acute non-traumatic abdominal pain presenting to emergency unit of a university teaching hospital in Rwanda.African journal of emergency medicine : Revue africaine de la medecine d'urgence · 2025Article
- Signs and symptoms of serious illness in adults with acute abdominal pain presenting to ambulatory care: a systematic review.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Level of Knowledge and Attitude Toward Acute Abdomen Among the Public: A Nationwide Study.Cureus · 2024Article
- Factors associated with delayed reporting for surgical care among patients with surgical acute abdomen attended at Muhimbili National Hospital: Tanzania.BMC gastroenterology · 2023Article
- Factors associated with unfavorable outcomes in patients with acute abdominal pain visiting the emergency department.BMC emergency medicine · 2022Article
- Emergency medicine matters: epidemiology of medical pathology and changes in patient outcomes after implementation of a post-graduate training program at a Tertiary Teaching Hospital in Kigali, Rwanda.International journal of emergency medicine · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAbdominal pain in adults represents a wide range of illnesses, often warranting immediate intervention. This study is to fill the gap in the knowledge about incidence, presentation, causes and mortality from abdominal pain in an established emergency department of a tertiary hospital in Tanzania.
methodsThis was a prospective cohort study of adult (age ≥ 18 years) patients presenting to the Emergency Medicine Department of Muhimbili National Hospital (EMD-MNH) in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania with non-traumatic abdominal pain from September 2017 to October 2017. A case report form was used to record data on demographics, clinical presentation, management, diagnosis, outcomes and patient follow-up. The primary outcome of mortality was summarized using descriptive statistics; secondary outcome was, risks for mortality.
resultsAmong 3381 adult patients present during the study period, 288 (8.5%) presented with abdominal pain, and of these 199 (69%) patients were enrolled in our study. Median age was 47 years (IQR 35-60 years), 126 (63%) were female, and 118 (59%) were referred from another hospital. Most common final diagnoses were malignancies 71 (36%), intestinal obstruction 11 (6%) and peptic ulcer disease 9 (5%). Most common EMD interventions given were intravenous fluids 57 (21%), analgesia 49 (25%) and antibiotics 40 (20%). 160 (80%) were admitted of which 15 (8%) underwent surgery directly from EMD. 24-h and 7-day mortality were 4 (2%) and 7 (4%) respectively, while overall in hospital-mortality was 16 (8%). Among the risk factors for mortality were male sex Relative Risk (RR) 2.88 (p = 0.03), hypoglycemia (RR) 5.7 (p = 0.004), ICU admission (RR) 14 (p < 0.0001), receipt of IV fluids (RR) 3.2 (p = 0.0151) and need for surgery (RR) 6.6 (p = 0.0001).
conclusionAbdominal pain was associated with significant morbidity and mortality as evidenced by a very high admission rate, need for surgical intervention and a high in-hospital mortality rate. Future studies and quality improvement efforts should focus on identifying why such differences exist and how to reduce the mortality.
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