Abdominal Pain-Predominant Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Jordanian School Children

Abstract

BackgroundRecurrent abdominal pain (RAP) is a common complaint in children. Significant portion of them are of functional origin. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID) and its types in Jordanian school children.MethodsThis is a school-based survey at south Jordan. Information using the self-reporting form of the Questionnaire on Pediatric Gastrointestinal Symptoms-Rome III Version (QPGS-RIII) - the official Arabic translation - was collected. Classes from academic years (grades) 6 - 8 were selected. SPSS Statistical Package Version 17 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) was used. Categorical data were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test, and continuous data were analyzed using t-test. P < 0.05 was considered significant.ResultsFive hundred questionnaires were distributed, and 454 returned answered (91%). Two hundred twenty-nine (50.8%) were males. The average age of participants was 12.7 years (11 - 15 years). One hundred sixteen (25.7%) had abdominal pain-predominant FGID. Seventy-nine (68%) of them were females. Forty-seven (10.6%) had irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Thirty-six (8%), 17 (3.8%), 11 (2.4%) and five (1.1%) had abdominal migraine, functional abdominal pain, functional abdominal pain syndrome and functional dyspepsia, respectively.ConclusionAbdominal pain-predominant FGID has become a major health issue in Jordanian children. One of four children between the ages of 11 and 15 years exhibits at least one abdominal pain-predominant FGID. The most common form of abdominal pain-predominant FGID in our children was IBS. Females are affected more often than males. Intestinal and extra-intestinal symptoms are seen regularly with abdominal pain-predominant FGIDs.

Functional abdominal pain disorders in adolescents in Indonesia and their association with family related stress

“…In accordance with earlier studies a higher female predominance was found in patients with FAPD [1, 18, 23]. The explanation for this finding has not been well established.…”

“…In accordance with our data, other epidemiological studies around the world reported similar overall prevalence rates of FAPD; 12.5% in Colombia, 12.1% in Panama and 9.9% in Nigeria [5, 16, 17]. These findings were different from a study from Jordan, which reported a prevalence of 25.7% [18]. In our study, FAP was the commonest FAPD with a prevalence rate of 5.8% followed by FD (3.3%), IBS (2.0%), and AM (0.4%).…”

Prevalence of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Children and Adolescents in the Mediterranean Region of Europe

“…However, most of them assessed the prevalence only in small community samples, 5,6 in single countries (eg, Greece or Norway), 7,8 in selected age ranges (eg, adolescents), 9 or focused mainly on abdominal pain-related disorders. [10][11][12] In the Mediterranean-European area the prevalence of FGIDs is poorly defined. Therefore, as part of the MEAP, we launched an international multicenter study to assess the prevalence of FGIDs in a large community sample of children and adolescents from the Mediterranean-European area.…”

<p>National Prevalence of Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders in Jordanian Children</p>

“…1 Previous epidemiologic studies estimate that the prevalence of FGIDs among children is 12 to 29% 2,3 Data from Jordan are limited to a previous small study of school children from south Jordan, which estimated that the prevalence of abdominal pain-predominant FGIDs was nearly 25%. 4 There is a need for a larger national study that includes a wider age range and all FGID subtypes. The combined efforts of various working groups for the Mediterranean-European Area Project (MEAP) to investigate the epidemiology of FGIDs in nine countries gave us the opportunity to study the Jordanian population in greater detail.…”