Background: Chronic abdominal pain occurs frequently in pediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission.
Aims: To assess the prevalence and factors associated with Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders among IBD children in remission (IBD-FAPD).
Methods: Patients with IBD for > 1 year, in clinical remission for ≥ 3 months were recruited from a National IBD network. IBD-FAPDs were assessed using the Rome III questionnaire criteria. Patient- or parent- reported outcomes were assessed.
Results: Among 102 included patients, 57 (56%) were boys, mean age (DS) was 15.0 (± 2.0) years and 75 (74%) had Crohn's disease. Twenty-two patients (22%) had at least one Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder among which 17 had at least one IBD-FAPD. Past severity of disease or treatments received and level of remission were not significantly associated with IBD-FAPD. Patients with IBD-FAPD reported more fatigue (peds-FACIT-F: 35.9 ± 9.8 vs. 43.0 ± 6.9, p = 0.01) and a lower HR-QoL (IMPACT III: 76.5 ± 9.6 vs. 81.6 ± 9.2, p = 0.04) than patients without FAPD, and their parents had higher levels of State and Trait anxiety than the other parents.
Conclusions: Prevalence of IBD-FAPD was 17%. IBD-FAPD was not associated with past severity of disease, but with fatigue and lower HR-QoL.
Keywords: Abdominal pain; Anxiety; Fatigue; Inflammatory bowel disease; Paediatrics; Quality-of-life.
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