Abdominal pain as a cause of acute admission to hospital.

Between 1 January 1988 and 31 December 1989, 525 patients were admitted to one hospital with a diagnosis of acute abdominal pain. Of these, 182 (34.7%) underwent an emergency operation and 14 (7.7%) of these patients subsequently died within 30 days. Death was due to intestinal obstruction in 69%, and there was a 28% mortality rate for emergency colonic resection. Non-specific abdominal pain (NSAP) was the most common diagnosis (36.0%), followed by appendicitis (14.9%) and urological causes (12.8%). There was an unnecessary appendicectomy rate of 25.0%. Admission with pain because of urological causes was over twice that of previous reports. Duration of stay increased greatly with age. Results from this study confirm the high mortality rate in the elderly from emergency colonic resection. Greater care in diagnosis and a conservative approach to appendicitis, with laparoscopy in females of reproductive age, may produce a lower unnecessary appendicectomy rate without an increase in morbidity. If the diagnosis of NSAP could be made earlier and patients discharged sooner, a large saving in resources would result. This early diagnosis is not yet possible.