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Physicians order frequent diagnostic imaging procedures for pediatric patients
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Diagnostic imaging procedures in children has become more common, exposing children to an increased cancer risk, according to this study.
“DIPs [diagnostic imaging procedures] are frequently performed in children and higher radiation DIPs account for an increasing proportion of DIPs performed, especially among children evaluated in the inpatient and emergency department settings, and those with gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms and congenital anomalies,” Trevor Tompane, MPH, and colleagues stated in the abstract.
The authors added, “Our findings may help guide development of clinical practice interventions to reduce DIP-related radiation exposure in youth.”
Tompane and colleagues looked at 214,538 DIPs taken on 61,116 children from 2001 to 2009. They found that higher radiation imaging procedures were more commonly performed on older boys during inpatient and emergency settings, while abdominal pain, headache and head injury hospital codes were associated with higher radiation imaging, according to the abstract.
Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.
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