ArticleJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2026
Evaluation of Pediatric Patients with Blunt Abdominal Trauma: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Practice Management Recommendations.
Article in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Computed tomography (CT) with intravenous contrast is a highly sensitive tool for diagnosis of injury following blunt abdominal trauma. However, the prevalence of clinically important intra-abdominal injury (CIIAI) in hemodynamically normal pediatric patients is less than 2%, and CT may not change management for many children since most pediatric intra-abdominal injuries do not require operative or procedural intervention. Ionizing radiation from CT is also associated with potential harms to children. Methods: Three relevant questions related to imaging after abdominal trauma in pediatric patients were developed using clearly defined Population (P), Intervention (I), Comparison (C), and appropriately selected Outcomes (O) (PICO). A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) methodology. The multispecialty working group reached consensus on the final evidence-based recommendations. Results: A total of 5141 articles were screened, and data from 13 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Most of the studies were retrospective, and the quality of the available evidence was determined to be very low. Conclusions: In hemodynamically normal pediatric patients (<18 years) with blunt abdominal trauma without signs of peritonitis: (1) We cannot make any recommendation regarding use of laboratory tests versus CT abdomen and pelvis as the initial screening test to identify CIIAI. (2) We cannot make any recommendation regarding the use of Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) to identify CIIAI, or on the use of FAST to determine the need for further imaging. (3) We conditionally recommend CT abdomen and pelvis to identify CIIAI in pediatric patients with an abdominal seatbelt sign.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.