Are there psychosocial differences in diagnostic subgroups of children with recurrent abdominal pain?
OBJECTIVE
To examine psychosocial differences in diagnostic subgroups of children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP).


METHODS
Children meeting Apley's 1975 definition of RAP were divided according to physician ratings into three subgroups, based on the Rome II diagnostic criteria of functional gastrointestinal disorders: functional dyspepsia (n=17), irritable bowel syndrome (n=18), and functional abdominal pain (n=27). Groups were compared using measures of (a) child psychopathology, (b) parent psychopathology, and (c) child pain, somatization, and functional disability.


RESULTS
Multivariate results from a discriminant function analysis demonstrated that children classified according to these criteria could not be differentiated with respect to parent reported child psychopathology or child pain, somatization, and functional disability. There were significant univariate differences, however, between groups on parental psychopathology (F=4.39, P=0.02); parents of children with functional dyspepsia reported greater parental psychopathology symptoms than the other two groups.


CONCLUSIONS
This study provides a preliminary comparison of pain, somatization, functional impact, and psychopathology ratings in the Rome II diagnostic subclassifications of children with RAP. Further investigation utilizing larger sample sizes, pain measures specifying pain location, and parental modeling of somatic behavior is indicated to better understand potential similarities and differences between these subgroups.
Robins
Paul M
PM
Department of Psychology, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, and the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA.
Glutting
Joseph J
JJ
Shaffer
Stephen
S
Proujansky
Roy
R
Mehta
Devendra
D
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012008:Recurrence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires