Causes of Acute Abdominal Pain in Geriatrics: A Review

Background: Aging affects all functions of the gastrointestinal system (GIS). The elderly commonly has atypical presentation of a disease with more subtle symptoms; hence physicians who are not familiar with these might miss the opportunity to make a diagnosis of abdominal pain in timely manner. The main objective of our study is to summarize the current evidence regarding causes and management of acute abdominal pain in elderly.

Methodology: MEDLINE, Embolic, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and ASSIA were searched from 2000 until April 2021, and reference lists of included studies were searched. Studies were included that described causes and management of abdominal pain in elderly. No software has been utilized to analyze the data. The data was extracted based on specific form that contains (Author’s name, publication year, country, methodology and results).

Results: The study included 7 papers. 2 cross sectional, 2 prospective and 3 retrospective studies all reporting causes and management of acute abdominal pain in elderly.

Conclusion: The most common causes of abdominal pain in elderly population were biliary disease, appendicitis and bowel obstruction. Renal colic, hernia and ischemia were also reported in different rates. Diagnosis and management of abdominal pain especially in elderly should be immediate to avoid potential complications.