Paediatric yellow flags and early identification of psychosocial factors in paediatric patients with unexplained musculoskeletal disorders

Abstract

Background: Children presenting with medically unexplained musculoskeletal complaints are often referred for physiotherapy. This study aimed to retrospectively identify the demographic details of patients referred to physiotherapy with no organic pathology and secondly, to use paediatric yellow flags to identify psychosocial factors documented during the assessment of these patients. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all patients with disorders of non-organic origin (n=23) seen in one year at the physiotherapy department of Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin (OLCHC), was undertaken. Data was collected from physiotherapy records and analysed. Psychosocial factors were identified from the documentation using paediatric yellow flags Results: The majority (73.9%) of patients that presented were female. Patients had an age range of 9-16 years and a mean presenting age of 11.9 years. All patients had at least three paediatric yellow flags documented in their notes. Conclusions: The use of Paediatric yellow flags may facilitate early identification of psychosocial factors in this patient group by physiotherapists. This has potential to help facilitate appropriate multidisciplinary intervention