Incidence and risk factors for infantile colic in Iranian infants.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the incidence of infantile colic and its association with variable predictors in infants born in a community maternity hospital, Tehran, Iran.


METHODS
In this prospective cohort study, mothers who gave birth to live newborns between February 21 and March 20, 2003 at the hospital were invited to join to the study. For every infant-mother dyad data were collected on infant gender, type of delivery, gestational age at birth, birth weight, birth order, and mother's reproductive history. Then mothers were given a diary to document the duration of crying/fussiness behaviors of their infants for the next 12 wk. We scheduled home visits at the time the infants were 3 mo of age to collect the completed diaries and obtain additional information on infants' nutritional sources and identify if medications were used for colic relief. Cases of colic were identified by applying Wessel criteria to recorded data. Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare proportions for non-parametric and parametric variables, respectively.


RESULTS
From 413 infants, follow-up was completed for 321 infants. In total, 65 infants (20.24%) satisfied the Wessel criteria for infantile colic. No statistical significance was found between colicky and non-colicky infants according to gender, gestational age at birth, birth weight, type of delivery, and, infant's feeding pattern. However, firstborn infants had higher rate for developing colic (P = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Colic incidence was 20% in this population of Iranian infants. Except for birth order status, no other variable was significantly associated with infantile colic.
Talachian
Elham
E
Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Ali-Asghar Children's Hospital, Shahid Dastgerdi Avenue, Modarres Expressway, Tehran 1919816766, Iran. talachin@iums.ac.ir
Bidari
Ali
A
Rezaie
Mohammad Hossein
MH
D001722:Birth Order; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003085:Colic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors