Stressful life events and recurrent abdominal pain in children in a rural district in Malaysia

Objective The purpose of this study was to look at the correlation between recurrent abdominal pain and the presence of recent stressful life events a mong schoolchildren in a rural district in Malaysia. Method This is a cross-sectional study of schoolchildren aged 9-15 years ba sed in Kuala Langat, a rural district located in the south-west of the Mala ysian state of Selangor. Schoolchildren were selected randomly and given qu estionnaires to fill in. This was followed by interview with the children o n the same day by one of the authors (CCMB) to ensure consistency of respon se. Recurrent abdominal pain was defined as 'at least three episodes of abd ominal pain, severe enough to affect their activities over a period longer than three months' [1], The children were also asked to answer either 'yes' or 'no' to whether they had experienced various life events in the previou s year. Results A sample of 1462 schoolchildren (722 boys and 740 girls) aged betwe en 9 and 15 years were included in the study, There were 768 Malays, 393 Ch inese and 301 Indians, Of these 1462 children, 161 (11.0%) had recurrent ab dominal pain, On performing multiple logistic regression analysis, two life events were significantly associated with recurrent abdominal pain: death of a family member (P = 0.008; odds ratio 0.61, 95% CI 0.43-0.88) and a cha nge in occupation of an immediate family member (P = 0.003; odds ratio 0.53 , 95% CI 0.35-0.81). Conclusion This study suggests that recurrent abdominal pain in children is associated with recent stressful life events in the children's lives. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol 13:401-404 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.