Special Groups and Abdominal Pain

Abstract

Specific patient groups have inherent characteristics when they suffer from diseases, including those of the digestive system and other causes of abdominal pain. Both diagnostic features and treatment measures differ regarding the patient’s age, sex, previous medical / surgical history, and comorbid diseases. Pregnancy has its unique features in both anatomy and physiology of the woman which result in substantial variation in physical examination finding, radiological and laboratory adjuncts (e.g., the location of the appendix is shifted away from its usual site and computed tomography is hardly ever used to diagnose etiologies of abdominal pain in pregnant women). Likewise, children have many differences in presentation, examination findings, work up and treatment principles, complicating the management process. In addition, the pandemic disease has caused a paradigm shift in the evaluation of almost all diseases, including those with abdominal pain. Many data suggest a close relationship between COVID-19 and the digestive system. Patients with COVID-19 carry a high risk of digestive symptomatology including abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea and others. HIV (+) patients exhibit various GI symptoms such as diarrhea, abdominal pain and proctitis. Healthcare providers should have robust knowledge of various forms of presentations and characteristics of special subgroups with abdominal pain in this regard, to prevent misdiagnoses and treatment errors in those patients.