[Recurrent abdominal pain in primary care: study of functional recurrent abdominal pain]

Pediatricians find that in daily clinical practice they are frequently visited by parents with children that have recurrent abdominal pain. Clinical experience has demonstrated that, after performing all relevant diagnostic tests, no medical condition justifying such investigations is involved in more than half of these disorders. Consequently, these disorders are called functional recurrent abdominal pain. The dramatic nature of their children's symptoms often leads parents to seek urgent medical consultations and ask for additional complementary tests; in serious cases, these disorders can lead to prolonged hospitalization with no proven therapeutic efficacy and which pose an additional risk for the child's mental health. In most patients, psychological factors are involved which play a key role in the onset and persistent nature of abdominal pains. Consequently, a psychopediatric approach preserving therapeutic continuity should be adopted. For these reasons, we consider a review of the psychiatric and psychological aspects involved in this disorder to be opportune.