study on children with abdominal pain and its relationship to mental illness essays

study on children with abdominal pain and its relationship to mental illness essays Bibliography: Hotopf, Matthew, Why Do Children Have Chronic Abdominal Pain, and What Happens to Them When They Grow Up? British Medical Journal, April 1998 Topic: Why Do Children Have Chronic Abdominal Pain, and What Happens to Them When They Grow Up? Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the hypothesis that children who have persistent abdominal pain come from families with high rates of psychiatric disorder, neuroticism and physical illness. The study also analyzed whether these children will suffer from the previously mentioned illnesses in adulthood. Subjects: The study the based on a sample stratified for social class of all singe legitimate births (3637) that occurred in England, Wales, and Scotland in one week of March in 1946. All children born to non-manual workers and agricultural workers were surveyed, while those born to other laborers were sampled in a ratio of 1:4. Controls were defined as survey members who participated in the same waves of data collection during early childhood, but whom either no abdominal pain was reported or it occurred only once or twice. Information was based on hospital admissions of children who suffered from abdominal pain. Persistent abdominal pain was described as abdominal pain that was reported suggesting that the pain was chronic. Hospital records for these children were carefully reviewed by a pediatrician, and those with a defined organic cause of pain that was judged to have been present throughout childhood were excluded from the sample. Parental illness was accessed when the survey members were aged 15. The mother was asked if she or her husband had suffered from illnesses such as asthma, cough, rheumatism in joints, anemia, heart trouble, kidney trouble, and other health complaints. School attendance records of the children were assessed twice during childhood. Teachers were asked to rate whether the chil ...