| Summary: | Introduction: Chest pain is a common complaint in children. In this retrospective study we investigated the clinical and etiological characteristics and the recurrence rates of chest pain in a large cohort of patients.
Material and Method: This study enrolled children under the age of 18 years who admitted to our pediatrics and pediatric cardiology departments with the chief complaint of chest pain. The medical files and laboratory data of patients with chest pain were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Among 503 patients with chest pain, 346 (68.7%) cases were referred to pediatric cardiology department because of a suspicious of a cardiac chest pain. Non-cardiac related chest pain accounted for 95.2% (478 patients) and cardiac related chest pain accounted for 4.8% (25 patients). A total of 23 (92%) patients in cardiac-related chest pain group and 212 (44.3%) patients in non-cardiac related group had recurrent chest pain. Recurrent chest pain was commonly detected in cardiac related chest pain, respiratory, gastrointestinal and psychological disorders.
Discussion and Conclusion: In this study, the most common etiologies of chest pain in children were idiopathic chest pain and musculoskeletal disorders. Although, our results showed that chest pain is commonly recurrent and cardiac causes of chest pain are very rare in children. Unnecessary referrals should be reduced with a careful history and physical examination.
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