Abstract

META-ANALYSIS: GEOGRAPHICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY OF PEDIATRIC FUNCTIONAL ABDOMINAL PAIN DISORDERS

Mashael Abdulbasit Hassan*, Abdullah Ahmed Alquraini, Salma Moteb T. Al-Mutairi, Waleed Fares Almutairi, Abdullah Nizar Ghannam, Omar Tawfik Ghabrah, Ziyad Tawfik Ghabrah, Raghib Ehsan Fuad Firash, Ghufran Faiz Abdullah Mirza, Duaa Tariq Abdulhadi Almasri and Lama Mohammed Alqthami

Abstract

Background & Purpose: In almost 90% of children, no explanatory organic cause can be recognized. to start with this condition was referred to as „recurrent abdominal pain‟. The Aim of this work is to provide cumulative data about the geographical epidemiology of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders. Methods: A systematic search was performed of PubMed, Cochrane library Ovid, Scopus & Google scholar to identify Pediatrics cohort, clinical, and epidemiology studies, which studied the pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders on different geographical locations. A meta-analysis was done using fixed and random-effect methods. The main outcome was pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders. Results: A total of 11 studies were identified involving 36791 patients. Regarding main outcome measure, the random-effects model of the meta-analysis study showed a pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders of 12.3%. Regarding secondary outcome measures, the random-effects model of the meta- analysis study showed a pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders in European studies of 7.6%. The random-effects model of the meta-analysis study showed a pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders in North American studies of 8.7%. The random-effects model of the meta-analysis study showed a pooled prevalence of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders in Asian studies of 21.7%. Conclusion: To conclude, Functional abdominal pain disorders are a common problem worldwide with irritable bowel syndrome as most encountered abdominal pain-related functional gastrointestinal disorder. Female gender, psychological disorders, stress and traumatic life events affect prevalence.

Keywords: Epidemiology, Pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders.