RT Book, Section
A1 Friedlander, Joel
A1 Matthews, Randolph P.
A2 Shah, Samir S.
SR Print(0)
ID 6901812
T1 Chapter 7. Chronic Abdominal Pain
T2 Pediatric Practice: Infectious Disease
YR 2009
FD 2009
PB The McGraw-Hill Companies
PP New York, NY
SN 978-0-07-148924-9
LK accesspediatrics.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=6901812
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  inhibits  normal  activity.  It  is  one  of  the  most  common  presenting  complaints  to  pediatricians.  Up  to  17%  of  high  school  students  experience  weekly  abdominal  pain,  and  chronic  abdominal  pain  accounts  for  approximately  4%  of  pediatric  office  visits.1  The  vast  majority  of  these  children  have  functional  abdominal  pain  that,  while  debilitating,  cannot  be  explained  by  a  clear  pathophysiologic  mechanism.  A  minority  of  patients  complaining  of  chronic  abdominal  pain  has  a  chronic  illness,  typically  of  an  infectious,  inflammatory,  anatomic,  or  biochemical  etiology.  These  conditions,  which  will  be  the  focus  of  this  chapter,  are  often  treatable  and  occasionally  curable.