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FAP increased lifetime anxiety, depressive disorder risk

Children with functional abdominal pain have an increased risk for anxiety disorders, according to recent study findings published in Pediatrics.

“We found a high risk for anxiety disorders at follow-up in pediatric patients with [functional abdominal pain] followed prospectively from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood,” the researchers wrote. “The data are particularly compelling in that they reflect clinically significant disorders based on clinicians’ judgment that severity or impairment was moderate to high.”

The study included 332 pediatric patients with functional abdominal pain (FAP) and 147 controls who were tracked and evaluated for psychiatric disorders and functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) at follow-up during adolescence and young adulthood. At follow-up participants were identified by presence of FGIDs as either FGID-POS (presence) or FGID-NEG (absence).

Researchers found that lifetime and current risk for anxiety disorders was greater in the FAP group compared with controls (lifetime: 51% vs. 20%; current: 30% vs. 12%). The FAP group also had a higher lifetime risk for depressive disorder compared with controls (40% vs. 16%). Risk for current anxiety disorders was higher for FGID-POS compared with FGID-NEG (40% vs. 24%) within the FAP group, and both were higher than controls (12%). Current depressive disorders, however, were not different across FGID-POS, FGID-NEG, and controls.

“This is the first study of pediatric FAP to integrate mental health and abdominal pain outcomes,” the researchers concluded. “Notably, even individuals with a childhood history of FAP who did not meet FGID symptom criteria at follow-up still had significantly higher rates of anxiety disorders compared with controls.”

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.