title: Charting infant distress: an aid to defining colic.
abstract: The value of a 24-hour distress diary, previously validated against a voice-activated audiotape record, was investigated in 30 infants with colic and 30 control infants. The infants with colic had significantly more distress behavior (300.0 minutes vs 102.5 minutes; p < 0.001), although overlap of duration of distress was noted. On the basis of a clinical definition of colic--total distress lasting 180 minutes in a 24-hour period--the diary had a sensitivity of 77% and a specificity of 87%. The sensitivity of the chart was confirmed in a separate study of another 90 infants with colic.
authors.affiliation: Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Menahem
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sheffield
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oberklaid
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hosking
mesh_terms: D002652:Child Behavior; D003085:Colic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003448:Crying; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D010290:Parents