Recurrent abdominal pain of gastro-intestinal origin

Abstract

A consecutive series of 71 children (mean age 8.6 years) with recurrent abdominal pain underwent endoscopic oesophageal, gastric and duodenal biopsy in order to determine whether the pain was of gastro-intestinal origin. Of these 71 children, 27 (38%) showed oesophagitis, 14 (20%) cardiac gastritis, 29 (41%) body gastritis, 38 (54%) antral gastritis, and 29 (41%) duodenitis. Thus, 66 of the 71 children studied had an inflammatory lesion explaining their complaints. One of the patients had a gastric ulcer. Helicobacter pylori colonisation was found in 5 of the children: One had H. pylori associated antral and body gastritis and 4 H. pylori associated antral gastritis only. Body gastritis without H. pylori was present in three of these four children. Our data do not support the widespread assumption that recurrent abdominal pain for which no medical cause can be found, is psychogenic; neither do they establish an association between H. pylori antral gastritis and recurrent abdominal pain. However, our data provide strong evidence that there is a gastro-intestinal origin of these patients' complaints.