Pediatric precordial pain, Hospital Español de México's experience.

INTRODUCTION

Pediatric precordial pain is a frequent cause for pediatric consultation in the emergency room (ER) services - about 0.3-0.6% of all consultations - and it can cause a lot of stress to families who tend to associate it with a more severe pathology, this pathology mostly presents itself between the ages of 11 and 14 years.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine the precordial pain's etiology and to analyze the semiology and approach toward the ailment by ER service in a private hospital.

METHODS

A retrospective, observational, descriptive, transversal study that took place from January 2014 to May 2017.

RESULTS

A total of 48 precordial pain patients were identified, four of them had a positive family background. Most of the pain was not referred as associated to symptoms, and the type of pain was non-specific in 62% of the cases. The most frequent duration of the pain was < 8 h in 54.1% and without any irradiation. There was only one case associated with the presence of cardiac precordial pain pathology regarding pulmonary hypertension; this signified an incidence of 2%, similar to what has been previously published in other articles.