RT Book, Section
A1 Mallon, Daniel
A2 Shah, Samir S.
A2 Kemper, Alex R.
A2 Ratner, Adam J.
SR Print(0)
ID 1157319988
T1 Chronic Abdominal Pain
T2 Pediatric Infectious Diseases: Essentials for Practice, 2e
YR 2019
FD 2019
PB McGraw-Hill Education
PP New York, NY
SN 9781259861536
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1157319988
RD 2024/04/20
AB Chronic  abdominal  pain  in  children  is  defined  as  any  type  of  pain  localized  to  the  abdomen  of  at  least  2  months’  duration  that  limits  normal  activity.1  It  is  one  of  the  most  common  presenting  complaints  to  pediatricians.  Up  to  24%  of  elementary  and  middle  school  students  and  17%  of  high  school  students  experience  persistent  weekly  abdominal  pain.1,2  Chronic  abdominal  pain  accounts  for  approximately  4%  of  pediatric  office  visits.1  Most  children  with  chronic  abdominal  pain  have  functional  abdominal  pain  disorders,  characterized  by  pain  with  or  without  other  gastrointestinal  symptoms  that  is  not  attributable  to  another  medical  condition.  Of  remaining  patients  with  an  identifiable  medical  condition,  their  pain  is  likely  the  result  of  inflammation  with  or  without  infection,  anatomic  problem  (e.g.,  choledochal  cyst,  recurrent  volvulus),  gastrointestinal  motility  disorder,  metabolic  disorder,  late  effect  of  trauma,  or  a  neoplastic  process  involving  a  lower  thoracic  or  abdominal  organ.  This  chapter  focuses  on  identifying,  evaluating  and  treating  conditions  causing  chronic  abdominal  pain,  with  emphasis  on  those  causes  related  to  infectious  diseases.