BackgroundOur study evaluated progression of and identified potential factors contributing to outcomes of ROME III defined-functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in children treated symptomatically in a biopsychosocial model of care with a long-term follow-up.MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of pediatric patients who were diagnosed with ROME III defined-FGIDs including functional abdominal pain, functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome and abdominal migraine. Patients were managed symptomatically in a biopsychosocial model of care from the time of initial diagnosis. Demographics, management, progression and response to treatment assessed as complete, partial, and no improvement were reviewed.ResultsTwo hundred fifty-eight patients were included with mean age of 10.6 years, female 55.4%, mean number of encounters 3.3 visits, and mean follow-up was 18.7 months (range 2 - 59, SD 15.8). Diagnoses were functional abdominal pain 45%, irritable bowel syndrome 20.9%, multiple 13.2%, functional dyspepsia 12.8%, and abdominal migraine 8.1%. Investigations were performed in most patients: laboratory studies in 93.4% (non-contributory abnormal 23.6%), imaging studies in 45.3% (non-contributory abnormal 5%) and endoscopies in 43.0% (non-contributory abnormal 1.2%). Treatment included medication in 93.7%, and surgery in 1.9% (normal pathology). There were new functional gastrointestinal diagnosis in 11.6%, evolution of FGIDs, from one to another in 12.0%, and recurrence found in 35.7% of patients. There were 60.1% patients in the complete improvement group (CIG) and 39.1% in the partial/no improvement group (PIG/NIG). No statistical difference was found between CIG and PIG/NIG regarding demographics or evaluation. PIG/NIG had more encounters (mean 3.63 vs. 3.11; P = 0.03), had non-contributory lab abnormalities (34.4% vs. 20.0%; P = 0.01), needed more endoscopies (52.4% vs. 36.8%; P = 0.02), required more treatment changes (mean 1.41 vs. 0.81; P < 0.01) and developed new functional gastrointestinal diagnoses (19.4% vs. 6.5%; P < 0.01) with long-term follow-up.ConclusionsPatients with ROME III defined-FGIDs who experience partial or no improvement with treatment develop new FGID diagnosis, need more number of follow-up visits, require more number of endoscopies, need more treatment changes, and have more non-contributory laboratory abnormalities, compared to those who experience complete improvement. Symptomatic treatment offered in a biopsychosocial model of care is possibly beneficial in managing children with FGIDs.

Our study aims to assess improvement with symptomatic treatment of pain-related functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) in a biopsychosocial construct and evaluate validity of Rome III criteria. Children with chronic abdominal pain diagnosed with an FGID or organic disease were followed for 1 year: 256/334 were diagnosed with an FGID and 78/334 were diagnosed with a possible organic disease due to alarm signs or not meeting Rome III criteria. After 1 year, 251 had true FGID and 46 had organic diseases. Ninety percent of FGID patients improved with symptomatic treatment over an average of 5.4 months. With a 95% confidence interval, Rome criteria predicted FGIDs with sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.90, positive predictive value 0.98, and negative predictive value 0.59. We conclude that symptomatic treatment of pain-related FGIDs results in clinical improvement and could reduce invasive/expensive testing. Rome III criteria’s high specificity and positive predictive value suggest they can rule in a diagnosis of FGID.