Pain over speed bumps in diagnosis of acute appendicitis: diagnostic accuracy study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of pain on travelling over speed bumps for the diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

Design

Prospective questionnaire based diagnostic accuracy study.

Setting

Secondary care surgical assessment unit at a district general hospital in the UK.

Participants

101 patients aged 17-76 years referred to the on-call surgical team for assessment of possible appendicitis.

Main outcome measures

Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and positive and negative likelihood ratios for pain over speed bumps in diagnosing appendicitis, with histological diagnosis of appendicitis as the reference standard.

Results

The analysis included 64 participants who had travelled over speed bumps on their journey

SUBMITTER: Ashdown HF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3524367 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature