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Chest pain in children referred to a cardiology clinic

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Abstract

One hundred consecutive patients (54 girls, 46 boys) referred to a pediatric cardiology department with the primary complaint of chest pain were evaluated. The age distribution was 2.5–16.0 years (mean 11.3 years for girls and 9.9 years for boys). The history showed 17% of patients with chest pain, 22% with heart disease, and 19% with recent death in the family. The time course of the pain was longer than 1 week in 92 patients. Localization was on the left precordium in 60 patients, and there was no radiation from the original site in 66 cases. Ninety-two percent of cases were idiopathic in origin. Of the 74 patients who had a psychiatric interview, 55 (74%) had psychiatric symptoms and 5 required psychiatric care. Anxiety, conversion disorder, and depression were the main psychiatric symptoms.

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Tunaoglu, F.S., Olguntürk, R., Akcabay, S. et al. Chest pain in children referred to a cardiology clinic. Pediatr Cardiol 16, 69–72 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00796820

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