Systematic review of childhood and adolescent risk and prognostic factors for persistent abdominal pain.

This review aimed to identify childhood and adolescence risk and prognostic factors associated with onset and persistence of persistent abdominal pain and related disability and assess quality of the evidence. While findings suggest a possible role for negative emotional symptoms and parental mental health as risk and prognostic factors for onset and persistence of persistent abdominal pain, the evidence is of poor quality overall and nonexistent when it comes to prognostic factors associated with disability. CONCLUSION: Further research is needed to increase confidence in existing evidence and to explore new factors. This research will inform prevention.