Abdominal Pain in Children

Two studies have just been published which focus on abdominal pain in children. The first study, published in the September 2007 issue of Archives of Disease in Childhood, followed a total of 1411 children, ranging in age from 11 to 14 years old, over a four year period, assessing for abdominal pain and possible risk factors.

At the one year follow-up a surprisingly high number (22%) of the participating children experienced the onset of abdominal pain. This pain persisted through the 4 year assessment. Chronic abdominal pain was seen in almost three times as many girls as boys. In terms of associated risk factors, with girls there was a connection between chronic abdominal pain and the experience of headaches. With boys, daytime fatigue, unhappiness with school, psychosocial stress, and being taller were all associated with chronic abdominal pain.

I have to say, the 22% figure blows my mind. That’s a lot of kids in pain! Although this study did not specifically address IBS, you can see that some of the same co-symptoms exist, such as fatigue, headache, and relationship with stress and unhappiness. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how being a taller male figures in.

The second study, published in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics, reviewed the causes of abdominal pain in children who were seen in the emergency room with acute symptoms. The interesting finding was that in almost half of the cases, the problem behind the acute pain was chronic or acute constipation. For more in-depth information regarding this study, see “Acute Abdominal Pain and Constipation in Children: A Study”.

Once again, I present you with the latest research, not only to keep you informed, but to keep hope alive that efforts are being made to better understand IBS and to find effective treatment.

_{Sources:
El-Metwally, A., Halder, S., Thompson, D., Macfarlane, G.J., & Jones, G.T. “Predictors of abdominal pain in schoolchildren: a 4-year population-based prospective study” Archives of Disease in Childhood 2007 92:1094-1098.
Loening-Baucke, V. & Swidinski, A. Constipation as Cause of Abdominal Pain in Children. Journal of Pediatrics 2007 151:666-669.}

Are you a parent whose child suffers from abdominal pain? Please share your experience in the forum discussion.