Abdominal Pain in ChildrenAbdominal pain in children is a very common cause of visits to doctors worldwide. Complaints of pain in the abdomen in any child should be taken seriously by both parents and doctors. It may be the first pointer to a genuine ill state, or perhaps to an underlying psychological or emotional problem that needs attention. 
Abdominal pain in a child presents a unique diagnostic dilemma for health care workers. This is largely because children find it difficult to localize pain. Only about one in twenty children (five percent) seen by doctors can be demonstrated to have a definite cause of pain in the abdomen. What this means is that, while most causes of abdominal pain in a child are not life threatening, it is imperative to give full attention to every child, to exclude the more serious causes of abdominal pain in this age group. Even if a definite cause of pain can not be pin pointed, once the potentially serious causes of pain has been excluded, the child and indeed parent, can be reassured and sent home on regular pain killer(s) where necessary, with access to regular re-evaluation. CausesCauses of abdominal pain in children can be understood by giving consideration to the age of the child, careful observation of the pattern of a child’s symptom, findings on a thorough physical examination, supported by ancillary laboratory test where necessary. Constipation, swallowed air or aerophagia, urinary tract infection (UTI), blood infection or sepsis, milk intolerance, mesenteric lymphadenopathy associated with throat infection or tonsillitis, gastroenteritis or tummy bug from ingestion of contaminated food, viral infection, appendicitis, abdominal migraine – especially where there is history of migraine in the family, period pain, diabetes, sickle cell crisis in the Afro-Caribbean, stomach or duodenal ulcer (peptic ulcer), and psychological disturbance are the most common causes of abdominal pain in childhood. Uncommon causes of abdominal pain in children include PICA – the urge to eat items that are not food, Henoch Scholein purpura, chest infection, chicken pox, tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria, intestinal worms infestation, lymphoma, kidney stone, gut mal-rotation, Meckel’s diverticulum, Crohn’s disease, hydronephrosis, and testicular torsion in boys. The term colic, or abdominal cramp refers to abdominal pain of moderate to severe intensity, intermittent in nature, and lasting for minutes, hours to a few days. Colic is used to describe such pain, more in children.
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