title: Irritable bowel syndrome and functional abdominal pain in five-year-old children are related to lifestyle.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Abdominal pain of functional origin is very common in childhood, and environmental factors are thought to be of aetiologic importance. The anthroposophic lifestyle has dietary and lifestyle characteristics that may influence child health, and this study aimed to assess the effect of such lifestyles on abdominal pain of functional origin.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective Swedish lifestyle cohort (n = 470) was followed from birth to five years of age. Family lifestyles were characterised through questionnaires. Abdominal pain was defined as irritable bowel syndrome or functional abdominal pain according to the Rome III criteria and measured with parental questionnaires and interviews at the age of five.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of abdominal pain was 15%. Children were more likely to have abdominal pain at five years of age if their family had a partly anthroposophic lifestyle, with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of 2.61 (95% CI 1.15-5.93), or an anthroposophic lifestyle, with an adjusted OR of 2.34 (95% CI 0.96-5.70).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A family lifestyle with anthroposophic characteristics was associated with an increased risk of abdominal pain in five-year-old children. The mechanisms for this increase were unclear, but we speculate that there may have been different prerequisites for coping with stressors.
authors.affiliation: Astrid Lindgren children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Agneta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uusijärvi
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Sachs' Children and Youth Hospital, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alm
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lindblad
authors.affiliation: Sachs' Children and Youth Hospital, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.|Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Olén
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D000887:Anthroposophy; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Anthroposophic lifestyle; Functional abdominal pain; Functional dyspepsia; Irritable bowel syndrome; Stress