Objective: A variety of sign, symptoms and laboratory findings are more
common in children with organic abdominal pains. This study was
performed to evaluate the prevalence of organic and functional
abdominal pains and relation of red flags to organic pains in 100
children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP). Methods: One hundred
consecutive patients with RAP were enrolled in the study. A complete
interview and physical examination was made for each patient,
accompanied by a series of laboratory, clinical and paraclinical
examinations. The data were recorded and analyzed. Logistic regression
analysis was used to model and formulize correlations between sign,
symptoms, and laboratory findings with organic and functional abdominal
pain. Findings: Among 100 patients (52% male, 48% female, Age:
9.29±3.17) diagnostic works up revealed organic pain for 57
patients. The most common symptoms of the patients included
constipation, diarrhea, chest pain, cough, headache, vomiting,
hematuria, and dysuria. Fecal incontinence, delayed puberty,
organomegaly, jaundice, and family history of inflammatory bowel
disease were reported in none of the patients with RAP. Fever, pain not
located in periumbilical area, nocturnal pain, elevated erythrocyte
sedimentation rate, weight loss, growth disorder, and abdominal
tenderness were among the red flags which revealed diagnosis of organic
pain in this study. Conclusion: A series of red flags could increase
likelihood of finding organic pain in children with RAP