TY - JOUR
T1 - Hospital referrals with possible ectopic pregnancy
T2 - Prospective observational study
AU - Crocker, Alison
AU - Arulkumaran, S.
AU - Hayman, R.
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - Women of reproductive age with abdominal pain represent a diagnostic challenge, especially in primary care where the decision whether to refer to hospital needs to be taken. The diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy hinges on a combination of clinical findings and a positive urinary pregnancy test (UPT). We investigated whether non-pregnant patients with abdominal pain were being referred inappropriately to hospital to exclude ectopic pregnancy because a UPT had not been performed or had been interpreted incorrectly. In this study, of the 81 patients referred by their general practitioners (GPs) on suspicion of ectopic, 38 were not pregnant on admission and only 46% of the UPT results in hospital agreed with those reported to the GP by the patient prior to referral. Given the high sensitivity and specificity of correctly interpreted UPTs, our findings suggest that pregnancy should be confirmed before hospital referral.
AB - Women of reproductive age with abdominal pain represent a diagnostic challenge, especially in primary care where the decision whether to refer to hospital needs to be taken. The diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy hinges on a combination of clinical findings and a positive urinary pregnancy test (UPT). We investigated whether non-pregnant patients with abdominal pain were being referred inappropriately to hospital to exclude ectopic pregnancy because a UPT had not been performed or had been interpreted incorrectly. In this study, of the 81 patients referred by their general practitioners (GPs) on suspicion of ectopic, 38 were not pregnant on admission and only 46% of the UPT results in hospital agreed with those reported to the GP by the patient prior to referral. Given the high sensitivity and specificity of correctly interpreted UPTs, our findings suggest that pregnancy should be confirmed before hospital referral.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038367615&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/0144361031000074754
DO - 10.1080/0144361031000074754
M3 - Article
C2 - 12745566
AN - SCOPUS:0038367615
SN - 0144-3615
VL - 23
SP - 179
EP - 181
JO - Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
JF - Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
IS - 2
ER -