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Why do children have chronic abdominal pain, and what happens to them when they grow up? Population based cohort
1Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry and Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AZ, UK. m.hotopf@iop.bpmf.ac.uk
Insights
Children with persistent abdominal pain often have parents with health issues. These children face a higher risk of adult psychiatric disorders, but not necessarily ongoing physical symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Developmental Pediatrics
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Persistent childhood abdominal pain is a common concern.
- Parental health and family history may influence childhood conditions.
- The long-term outcomes of childhood abdominal pain require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between childhood abdominal pain and parental health.
- To determine if childhood abdominal pain predicts adult medically unexplained symptoms and psychiatric disorders.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a population-based birth cohort study design.
- Included participants from the Medical Research Council (MRC) national survey of health and development.
- Assessed childhood abdominal pain, parental health, and adult physical symptoms and psychiatric disorders at age 36.
Main Results:
- Children with persistent abdominal pain had parents with higher rates of physical health complaints and maternal neuroticism.
- These children showed a significantly increased likelihood of adult psychiatric disorders (OR 2.72).
- No significant association was found for adult physical symptoms when psychiatric disorder was controlled (OR 1.39).
Conclusions:
- Childhood persistent abdominal pain is linked to parental ill-health and emotional distress.
- While not leading to persistent physical symptoms in adulthood, it increases the risk for psychiatric disorders.
- This highlights the importance of considering family health and mental well-being in managing childhood abdominal pain.
Objective:
To test the hypotheses that children with abdominal pain have anxious parents and come from families with high rates of physical illness and that they grow up to suffer from high rates of medically unexplained symptoms and psychiatric disorders.
Design:
Population based birth cohort study.
Setting:
General population.
Subjects:
Participants in the Medical Research Council (MRC) national survey of health and development, a population based birth cohort study established in 1946.
Main Outcome Measures:
Abdominal pain present throughout childhood in the absence of defined organic disease, and measures of physical symptoms and psychiatric disorder at age 36 years.
Results:
There were high rates of complaints about physical health among the parents of children with persistent abdominal pain, and the mothers had higher neuroticism scores. Children with persistent abdominal pain were more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders in adulthood (odds ratio 2.72 (95% confidence interval 1.65 to 4.49)) but were not especially prone to physical symptoms once psychiatric disorder was controlled for (odds ratio 1. 39 (0.83 to 2.36)).
Conclusions:
Persistent abdominal pain is associated with poor health and emotional disorder in the parents. Children with abdominal pain do not necessarily continue to experience physical symptoms into adulthood but are at increased risk of adult psychiatric disorders.