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Constipation as cause of acute abdominal pain in children.

Loening-Baucke V, Swidsinski A

Division of General Pediatrics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA. vera-loening-baucke@uiowa.edu

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the causes of acute abdominal pain in a large academic pediatric primary care population. STUDY DESIGN: The complete charts of 962 children, > or = 4 years old, who were seen for at least 1 health maintenance visit during a 6-month period, were reviewed retrospectively for complaints and cause of acute abdominal pain. RESULTS: We found that 9% of the 962 children had a visit for acute abdominal pain, with significantly more girls (12%) than boys (5%) having this complaint. Acute and chronic constipation were the most frequent causes of acute abdominal pain, occurring in 48% of subjects. A surgical cause was present in 2% of subjects. The cause for the acute abdominal pain remained unknown in 19% of subjects. We did not find significant differences in diagnoses in the primary care clinics versus emergency department. CONCLUSIONS: We found that constipation was the most common cause of acute abdominal pain in children.

Published 23 November 2007 in J Pediatr, 151(6): 666-9.
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