Acute abdominal pain in children at the Pediatric Hospital in Bangui (Central African Republic). Epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical, therapeutic and evolutive aspects

Acute abdominal pains in children in general, and in subsaharian Africa in particular, are among the most frequent causes of consultations. The authors achieved a two-year retrospective study on acute abdominal pains in children, with the objectives of determining the frequency of acute abdominal pains, precising the epidemiological, clinical, therapeutic and evolutive aspects and different aspects of the treatment. The study concerned 312 cases. A predominance of the ages three to ten years was noted (67% of the cases). Most of the patients were related to low income parents. Half patients were submitted to antiparasitical treatment before arriving at the hospital and they were treated mainly by antihelminthiasis. The diagnosis were appendicitis (32.4%), typhoid perforations (9.9%), digestive forms of acute malaria (5.8%), strangulated herniae (4.8%), acute gastroenteritis (4.8%), acute pneumoniae (3.8%), urinary tract infections (3.5%), amibian liver abscess (1.9%), viral hepatitis (1.6%), Schönlein Henoch purpura (1.3%), occlusive syndrome (1.3%) and other medical causes (2.2%). In 22.8% of the cases, no cause was found. The ignorance of the seriousness signals, late recourses to hospitals structures and the limited financial means explain the high rate of mortality (8%), mainly due to appendicitis and typhoid perforations.