pediatric_appendicitis_risk_calculator: Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC)

In cliot: Clinical Indices and Outcomes Tools

Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC)

Description

Calculates the Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC) score to estimate the probability of appendicitis in children presenting with abdominal pain. The score utilizes sex, age, pain duration, pain migration, guarding, maximal tenderness in the right lower quadrant (RLQ), and absolute neutrophil count (ANC).

Usage

pediatric_appendicitis_risk_calculator(sex, age_years, pain_duration_hours,
                                       abdominal_pain_migration, abdominal_guarding,
                                       maximal_tenderness_rlq, absolute_neutrophil_count)

Arguments

sex	String. Patient sex ("Male" or "Female").
age_years	Numeric. Patient age in years.
pain_duration_hours	Numeric. Duration of abdominal pain in hours.
abdominal_pain_migration	Numeric (0 or 1). Migration of pain to the RLQ. (1 = Yes).
abdominal_guarding	Numeric (0 or 1). Presence of abdominal guarding on examination. (1 = Yes).
maximal_tenderness_rlq	Numeric (0 or 1). Is maximal tenderness located in the Right Lower Quadrant (RLQ)? (1 = Yes).
absolute_neutrophil_count	Numeric. Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) in x10^3/uL (or x10^9/L).

Value

A list containing:

PARC_Score	The calculated risk score (points).
Appendicitis_Risk_Probability	Estimated probability of appendicitis based on the score.

References

Kharbanda AB, Vazquez-Benitez G, Ballard DW, et al. Development and Validation of a Pediatric Appendicitis Risk Calculator (pARC). Pediatrics. 2018;141(4):e20172699. doi:10.1542/peds.2017-2699

Examples

# Example 1: High Risk
# Male (+2), 10y (+7), Pain 36h (+4), Migration (+8), Guarding (+12),
#RLQ Tenderness (+16), ANC 15 (+49)
# Score = 98
pediatric_appendicitis_risk_calculator("male", 10, 36, 1, 1, 1, 15.0)

# Example 2: Low Risk
# Female (0), 4y (0), Pain 12h (0), No Migration, No Guarding, No RLQ Tenderness, ANC 5 (0)
# Score = 0
pediatric_appendicitis_risk_calculator("female", 4, 12, 0, 0, 0, 5.0)

cliot documentation built on Dec. 1, 2025, 1:06 a.m.