Psychiatric disorders and family functioning in children and adolescents with functional abdominal pain syndrome

Background and Aim:  Functional abdominal pain syndrome (FAPS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder. There is a heightened risk when conducting potentially dangerous and unnecessary medical investigations and procedures in children with FAPS. The aim of this study was to survey the rate of the psychiatric disorders and family functioning in children and adolescents with FAPS.
Methods:  The subjects were a consecutive new sample of 45 children and adolescents with FAPS, 45 with an organic abdominal pain, and 45 pain-free comparison subjects aged 5–18 years that were interviewed using the Farsi version of K-SADS. Family functioning and the severity of pain were also studied.
Results:  About 51.1% of patients with FAPS suffered from at least one psychiatric disorder. Psychiatric disorders in the FAPS patients studied included general anxiety disorder (8.9%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (11.1%), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (15.6%), separation anxiety disorder (24.4%), and major depressive disorder (15.6%). Except for generalized anxiety disorder and tic disorder, the other disorders were significantly more common in the FAPS group than in the two other control groups. Family functioning scores were not significantly different between groups.
Discussion:  There is a high rate of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents with FAPS in Iran, but our study found fewer incidences of disorders than previous reports have indicated. Family dysfunction difficulties in FAPS children are not more common than those in the control groups.