All issues > Volume 40(7); 1997

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1997;40(7):965-973. Published online July 15, 1997.

Clinical Manifestations of Recurrent Abdominal Pain May Differ with Helicobacter pylori Infection in Children

Nam Seon NS Beck¹, I-Seok IS Kang¹

¹Department of Pediatric, Sung Kyun Kwan University, College of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Purpose
: The role of H. pylori in the pathogenesis of recurrent abdominal pain in children is uncertain. In order to find a correlation between H. pylori infection and recurrent abdominal pain in children, the present study was designed to compare the clinical manifestations between recurrent abdominal pain children with and without H. pylori infection and to investigate the effects of H. pylori eradication on abdominal pain.
Methods
: Among 148 children with recurrent abdominal pain, a total of 129 children with recurrent abdominal pain were the subjects of this study. The remaining 19 patients were excluded due to intra-abdominal lesions causing abdominal pain (18 cases), and a lost case during follow-up (1 case). The subjects were classified into 2 groups : the case group consisted of the 22 patients who had evidence of H. pylori infection. The rest, 107 patients who were H. pylori negative, became the control group. Clinical features of recurrent abdominal pain by questionnaire on the location and characteristics of the pain, family history of non ulcer dyspepsia, irritable bowel and passive smoking were investigated by comparison of these two group. The effect of H. pylori suppression by antibiotics (amoxicillin, for 2 weeks and bismuth, for 4 weeks) on abdominal pain in the case group was also evaluated.
Results
: The questionnaire revealed that pain localized more in the epigastric or supraumbilical area in the case group (8 out of 21 vs. 14 out of 88: P=0.023) and the family histories of irritable bowel were more common in control group (74 out of 100 vs.. 11 out of 22; P=0.013). The case group, treated with antibiotics, had significantly greater improvement in subjective and objective symptoms compared with control group (p=0.040 and p=0.037 respectively).
Conclusion
: The above results suggest that H. pylori infection may induce chronic abdominal pain in children.

Keywords :Recurrent abdominal pain, H. pylori infection