Introduction:

Acute appendicitis is the disease demanding the biggest emergency surgeries worldwide and its diagnosis lacks criteria uniformity.

Objective:

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Pediatric Appendicitis Score in primary healthcare.

Method:

A quantitative, cross-sectional and double-masked study of diagnostic test evaluation was performed. The study population consisted of 31 patients, up to the age of fifteen years, with clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis treated in René Vallejo Ortiz University Polyclinic of Manzanillo, Granma. All patients with suspected acute appendicitis were applied the Pediatric Appendicitis Score before referral and evaluation by the pediatric surgeon, and the diagnostic capacity of the score was determined.

Results:

The average age was 12.41 years. The male sex predominated (61.29%). 100%, 93.55% and 87.1% of the patients had a clinical, operative and histopathological diagnosis of acute appendicitis, respectively, at the secondary level of healthcare. The pediatric appendicitis score had sensitivity of 96.96%, specificity of 50%, a positive predictive value of 92.86%, and a negative predictive value of 66.67%.

Conclusions:

The Pediatric Appendicitis Score presented patterns of sensitivity and specificity that make it recommendable for usage in primary health care.

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