The aim of this study was to investigate abnormalities in pediatric patients with functional dyspepsia. Fifteen symptomatic pediatric patients diagnosed with functional dyspepsia and 17 aged-matched healthy controls were studied. Gastric myoelectrical activity was recorded using surface electrogastrography for 1 hr in the fasting state and 1 hr after a test meal. It was found that, in comparison with the controls, the children with functional dyspepsia had a lower percentage of 2- to 4-cpm slow waves in both fasting state (66.0+/-4.7% vs 79.7+/-3.1%, P < 0.07) and fed state (72.4+/-5.4% vs 85.0+/-2.9%, P < 0.04), and a significantly higher instability of the dominant frequency in both fasting state (0.50+/-0.05 vs 0.31+/-0.04, P < 0.01) and fed state (0.39+/-0.05 vs 0.25+/-0.03, P < 0.05). It was also found the postprandial increase in EGG dominant power in the patients was inversely correlated with the total symptom score (r = 0.63, P = 0.03). It was concluded that abnormal gastric myoelectrical activity may play a role in the pathogenesis of pediatric functional dyspepsia.