Introduction: Chronic abdominal pain (CAP) is one of the most common indications of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) in the pediatric population. However, there is not enough information about the diagnostic yield of EGD in children with CAP. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic yield of EGD in children with CAP in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.
Material and methods: The study included children (n = 372) who underwent EGD for the primary indication of chronic abdominal pain during an 18-month period. We collected data on demographic features (age, sex), clinical characteristics (alarm symptoms), and EGD results for each patient.
Results: Patients' mean age was 13 years (range: 4-17 years; mean ± SD: 12.65 ±3.39 years), and the majority were female (n = 234, 62.9%). Endoscopy was diagnostic in 209 patients (56.2%; 95% CI: 30.35-40.05%). The most common diagnosis was Helicobacter pylori gastritis (35.2%) followed by reflux esophagitis. Significantly greater diagnostic yield of EGD was determined in patients with alarm symptoms (65.1%) compared to those without (45.2%) (OR = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.49-3.44, p = 0.001).
Conclusions: We determined a high diagnostic yield of EGD in children with CAP. Although the diagnostic yield of EGD in the assessment of CAP was found to be higher in the presence of alarm symptoms, a significant number of children without alarm symptoms were also found to have gastrointestinal system pathology diagnosed by EGD.
Keywords: abdominal pain; children; endoscopy.