Outcome of nonspecific abdominal pain in the discharged patients from the emergency department

The causes of non traumatic abdominal pain are varied from mild to severe onset. This study was carried out to assess the outcome of the patients with non-specific abdominal pain discharged from the emergency department. This cohort study was carried out on 247 patients (68.4% female, 31.6% male) with non-specific abdominal pain which referred to the emergency department of Imam Hossain hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2010-11. The existence or improvement of pain, readmission to hospital and possible subsequent complications diagnose and death was recorded after four-week through telephone follow-up. 247 patients with non-specific abdominal pain were enrolled. Out of 158 patients with recurrence pain, 71 (45%) patients were admitted to the hospital again that finally, cause of pain was diagnosed in 45 (28.5%) patients. The most common cause of abdominal pain was irritable bowel syndrome (3.2%). History of similar pain (OR=4.04, P<0.05), abnormal findings in abdominal ultrasonography (OR=8.2, P<0.05), abnormal urine analysis (OR=7.4, P<0.05) and abdominal pain persisted for more than 2 days (OR=4.04, P<0.05) were independent factors to identifying the causes of abdominal pain. Nonspecific abdominal pain will not lead to appropriate recognition and most of them recover without any complication.