Keimyung Med J.  2014 Jun;33(1):16-22. 10.0000/kmj.2014.33.1.16.

Relationship of Chief Complaints at Hospital with Prognosis in Acute Myocarditis Children

• Kim YJ
• Kim YH
• Choi HJ

• KMID: 2224195
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kmj.2014.33.1.16

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical characteristics of acute myocarditis children, especially chief complaints on first visit at a hospital and prognosis. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted to identify patients with myocarditis who presented over a 10-year span at a regional tertiary hospital. Patients were identified based on the international classification of diseases 10, diagnostic codes. Total 18 patients were enrolled in the study. The patients had a median age of 16 months and 61% of them were male. Common chief complaints were shortness of breath, lethargy, cough or palpitation. Of the patients, 5 patients showed gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain and loose stool as initial symptoms. Eighty nine percent of patients had cardiomegaly on chest x-ray, and 72% of patients had an abnormal electrocardiogram results. On first admission, 4 patients were died and 3 of them showed vomiting and abdominal pain as first chief complaints. These data suggest that abdominal pain and vomiting may be chief complaints of acute myocarditis. And myocarditis patients who showed gastrointestinal symptoms initially had poor prognosis. In addition, to distinguish an acute myocarditis, cardiomegaly on chest x-ray and an abnormal electrocardiogram may be useful.

Keyword

Abdominal pain; Cardiomegaly; Myocarditis; Shock

MeSH Terms

Abdominal Pain
Cardiomegaly
Child*
Cough
Dyspnea
Electrocardiography
Humans
International Classification of Diseases
Lethargy
Male
Myocarditis*
Prognosis*
Retrospective Studies
Shock
Tertiary Care Centers
Thorax
Vomiting