ArticleAnnals of family medicine
Childhood nonspecific abdominal pain in family practice: incidence, associated factors, and management.
Article in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of parent and clinician views and perceptions that influence prescribing decisions in relation to acute childhood infections in primary care.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2015Pooled it
- Trial
- Validation of the youth version of the Alimetry® Gut-Brain Wellbeing Survey: a mental health scale for young people with chronic gastroduodenal symptoms.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2026Article
- Children's and Their Parents' Experiences With Home-Based Guided Hypnotherapy: Qualitative Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2025Article
- General practitioners' experiences with chronic abdominal symptoms and a faecal calprotectin guided referral strategy in children: A Dutch qualitative study.The European journal of general practice · 2024Article
- Irritable bowel syndrome in children with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms in primary care.Family practice · 2024Article
- Advancing the Assessment and Treatment of Comorbid Pediatric Chronic Functional Abdominal Pain (CFAP) and Restrictive Eating Disorders.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Management of children with non-acute abdominal pain and diarrhea in Dutch primary care: a retrospective cohort study based on a routine primary care database (AHON).Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2023Article
- Article
- Paediatric chronic pain prevalence in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2022Article
- The burden and impact of recurrent abdominal pain - exploring the understanding and perception of children and their parents.Health psychology and behavioral medicine · 2022Article
- General practitioners' experiences with children and adolescents with functional gastro-intestinal disorders: a qualitative study in Norway.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2021Article
- Article
- The Appropriateness of Glycerin Enema in Pediatric Patients Visiting the Emergency Department.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- [Upper abdominal pain: a frequent and multifaceted leading symptom in primary care internal medicine].Der Internist · 2021Review
- Managing nonspecific abdominal pain in children and young people.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2020Article
- Non-specific Health complaints and self-rated health in pre-adolescents; impact on primary health care use.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Developing a Clinical Pathway for Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders in Pediatric Hospital Settings.Hospital pediatrics · 2019Article
- Functional gastrointestinal diseases and psychological maladjustment, personality traits and quality of life.BMC gastroenterology · 2018Article
- Descriptive study of interprofessional collaboration between physicians and osteopaths for the pediatric population in Quebec, Canada.BMC health services research · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeNonspecific abdominal pain (NSAP) is a common complaint in childhood. In specialist care, childhood NSAP is considered to be a complex and time-consuming problem, and parents are hard to reassure. Little is known about NSAP in family practice, but the impression is that family physicians consider it to be a benign syndrome needing little more than reassurance. This discrepancy calls for a better understanding of NSAP in family practice.
methodsData were obtained from the Second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (2001). Using registration data of 91 family practices, we identified children aged 4 to 17 years with NSAP. We calculated the incidence, and we studied factors associated with childhood NSAP, referrals, and prescriptions.
resultsThe incidence of NSAP was 25.0 (95% confidence interval [CI], 23.7-26.3) per 1,000 person years. Most children (92.7%) with newly diagnosed NSAP (N = 1,480) consulted their doctor for this condition once or twice. Factors independently associated with NSAP were female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 1.4; 95% CI, 1.3-1.5), nongastrointestinal-nonspecific somatic symptoms (OR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.1-1.5), and health care use (OR = 1.04; 95% CI, 1.03-1.05). When NSAP was diagnosed at the first visit, 3% of the patients were referred to specialist care, and 1% received additional testing. Family physicians prescribed medication in 21.3% of the visits for NSAP.
conclusionsChildhood NSAP is a common problem in family practice. Most patients visit their doctor once or twice for this problem. Family physicians use little additional testing and make few referrals in their management of childhood NSAP. Despite the lack of evidence for effectiveness, family physicians commonly prescribe medication for NSAP.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.