Incidence of non-specific abdominal pain in children during school term: population survey based on discharge diagnoses

Abdominal pain remains a common problem in childhood and often results in admission to hospital. 1 Of these children, however, only 30-40% will require surgical intervention.2 3 Most are discharged with a diagnosis of non-specific abdominal pain.4 To elucidate whether non-specific abdominal pain is more common during the school term compared with the school holiday we investigated the admission rates for non-specific abdominal pain and acute appendicitis throughout the school year.