title: Prevalence of pneumonia in children under 12 years of age who undergo abdominal radiography in the emergency department.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Pneumonia is a well-known cause of acute abdominal pain in children. However, the utility of chest radiography in this setting is controversial. We sought to determine the prevalence of pneumonia in children under 12 years of age who had abdominal pain and underwent abdominal radiography when visiting an emergency department (ED). We also aimed to describe the signs and symptoms of children diagnosed with pneumonia in this context.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic data from ED visits to a tertiary care centre by children 12 years of age and under who were seen between June 1, 2001, and June 30, 2003, and who underwent both an abdominal and a chest radiograph during the same visit, or an abdominal x-ray at a first visit as well as a chest x-ray in the 10 days following the initial visit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 1584 visits studied, 30 cases of pneumonia were identified, for a prevalence of 1.89% (95% confidence interval 1.22%-1.56%). If chest radiography had been limited to children who presented with fever, cough and symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), the diagnosis of pneumonia would have been missed in only 2/1584 visits (0.13%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children aged 12 years and under presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain and in whom an abdominal radiograph is requested need only undergo a chest radiograph in the presence of cough, fever or other symptoms of a URTI.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. valerie.homier@mail.mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Homier
authors.forename: Colette
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellavance
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xhignesse
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015995:Prevalence; D011860:Radiography, Abdominal; D012189:Retrospective Studies