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Purpose@#The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors for recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in children who presented with nonorganic acute abdominal pain. @*Methods@#A retrospective, single study was conducted on 2–15-year-old children diagnosed with nonorganic acute abdominal pain at the pediatric outpatient department of Vajira Hospital, Nawamindradhiraj University, between January 2015 and December 2019. The potential risk factors were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. @*Results@#Of the 367 patients with nonorganic acute abdominal pain, 94 (25.6%) experienced RAP within three months. In this group with RAP, 76 patients (80.8%) were diagnosed with functional gastrointestinal disorders, including functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, functional abdominal pain-not otherwise specified, and functional constipation.History of gastrointestinal infection (p=0.011), mental health problems (p=0.022), abdominal pain lasting ≥7 days (p<0.001), and change in stool frequency (p=0.001) were the independent risk factors associated with RAP in children with nonorganic acute abdominal pain; their odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were 3.364 (1.314–8.162), 3.052 (1.172–7.949), 3.706 (1.847–7.435), and 2.649 (1.477–4.750), respectively. @*Conclusion@#RAP is a common problem among children who first present with nonorganic acute abdominal pain. The identification of risk factors may provide proper management, especially follow-up plans for this group in the future.
ABSTRACT
Abstract Risk of Low Birth Weight Infants Born High Haemoglobin Mothers* Pongsak Noipayak MD** * This work was supported by The Vajira Research Fund (annual research fund 2001) ** Department of Pediatrics, BMA Medical College and Vajira Hospital Objective: To study risks of low birth weight infants (LBW) born to high hemoglobin mothers. Study design: Case-control study. Subjects: Two hundred and seventy five newborn infants admitted to The Department of Pediatrics, BMA Medical College and Vajira Hospital from January to December 1998. Methods: Simple random sampling was conducted to recruit 55 low birth weight infants. Normal birth weight infants, 220 cases for controls, were matched by sex gestational age at first visit and month of delivering. Risks of infants born to high hemoglobin at first visit were determined by Mantel-Haenzel test and logistic regression. Main outcome measures: Odds rations ratios of low birth weight infants born to high haemoglobin mothers. Results: Out of 275 subjects, 55 were LBW and 220 controls. There was difference of maternal hemoglobin at first visit between two groups statistically significant (p0.05). Means of hemoglobin were 12.1 0.2 g/dl and 11.6 0.1 g/dl in groups of LBW and control, respectively. A group of mother whose haemoglobin at first visit \> 12.5 g/dl was the highest risk of giving low birth weight infants with an odds ratio of 2.75 (p
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Abstract Risk of Autism in Children with Large Head Circumference during the First Year of Life Pongsak Noipayak MD, MSc (Epidemiology) Department of Pediatrics, BMA Medical College and Vajira Hospital Objective: To determine risks of autism in children who has head circumferences more than 97 and 75 percentile. Study design: Case-control study. Subjects: Autistic children and non-autistic children from the division of developmental and behavioral pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, BMA Medical College and Vajira Hospital from March 2007 to July 2008. Methods: Records of head circumferences were obtained from child health books. Data were recorded and analysed. Main outcome measures: Head circumferences at birth, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months. Results: Of 92 subjects, 46 were autism and 46 were control. There were 39 males (84.8%) and 7 females (15.2%) in each group. Means of head circumferences of males in all age group were statistically different between the autistic group and the control group while those of females were not. The odds ratio of autism of all age groups of males who had head circumferences larger than 97 percentile were between 2.78 and 11.00 which were statistically significant difference, but not in females. In respect of head circumferences larger than 75 percentile at 6, 9, 12 months, the risks of autism in males remained statistically significant higher than those who had head circumferences smaller than 75 percentile with the odds ratio from 1.53 to 3.67 but there was no significance in female. Conclusion: Head circumferences of males larger than 75 and 97 percentile were able to predict risks of autism with statistical significance. However, the ability to predict autism varied across age groups. Vajira Med J 2009 ; 53 : 161-170