Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish archives of pediatrics (Online), cilt.58, sa.1, ss.49-55, 2023 (Hakemli Dergi)
Objective: Children with suspicious complaints of rheumatic diseases are generally referred to a pediatric rheumatologist. We aimed to evaluate the profile of patients referred to the pedi- atric rheumatology unit and were not diagnosed with a rheumatic disease and to assess the impact of the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic on referral complaints. Materials and Methods: All new outpatients who applied to the pediatric rheumatology depart- ment between March 2019 and February 2021 and were not diagnosed with rheumatic disease were included. We also compared the frequency of admission symptoms during the pre-pan- demic (March 2019-February 2020) and pandemic periods (March 2020-February 2021). Results: A total of 1089 patients without a rheumatic disease diagnosis (568 female, 52.2%; median age 10.0 years) were included in this study. The most common complaint for refer- ral was prolonged or recurrent fevers (13.4%) followed by anti-nuclear antibody positivity (13.1%), arthralgia (13.0%), skin findings (7.5%), and the presence of heterozygous mutations in the Mediterranean fever gene (6.9%). During the pandemic year, the number of patients referred for back pain increased significantly (P = .028). A total of 682 of 1089 patients were consulted from other departments in our center (62.6%). Of these, the most frequent consulta- tion request was from general pediatrics (43.6%). The rheumatic disease was excluded in 11.3% of the patients. Conclusion: Prolonged or recurrent fever and anti-nuclear antibody positivity were the most frequent complaints of referrals to a pediatric rheumatology unit in patients who did not have a rheumatic disease. The rate of back pain was more common in children during the pandemic period.