Table 1.
General characteristics of study population with functional abdominal complaints (n = 81)
| Respondent | |
| Woman | 71 (88%) |
| Age (years)a | 34.6 (5%) |
| Employment | |
| Employed | 58 (72%) |
| Housemaker | 14 (17%) |
| Unemployed/disabled | 9 (11%) |
| Highest educational level | |
| Elementary school | 1 (1%) |
| Secondary school | 50 (62%) |
| Higher educational/university | 29 (36%) |
| Two parents’ household | 72 (89%) |
| Child | |
| Age (months) | Median: 46 |
| 25th–75th percentile: 27–59 | |
| Range: 5–72 | |
| Girls | 39 (48%) |
| Classification of abdominal pain | |
| Irritable bowel syndrome | 10 (12%) |
| Functional abdominal pain | 7 (9%) |
| Dyschezia | 1 (1%) |
| Functional constipation | 63 (78%) |
| Parent reported chronic condition other than abdominal | 41 (51%) |
| Frequency abdominal complaints during past 4 weeksb | |
| Most days-every day | 19 (25%) |
| 4–12 days | 14 (17%) |
| <4 days | 21 (26%) |
| Pain frequency per day during past 4 weeksb | |
| Whole day | 9 (11%) |
| 4–6 times a day | 9 (11%) |
| 1–3 times a day | 31 (28%) |
| No pain | 4 (5%) |
| Duration of pain in past 4 weeksb | |
| Most of the day | 10 (12%) |
| 1–4 h | 12 (15%) |
| 30 min | 18 (22%) |
| Few minutes | 13 (16%) |
| Location of abdominal complaintsb | |
| Upper abdomen | 5 (6%) |
| Umbilical | 24 (30%) |
| Lower abdomen | 35 (43%) |
| Divers | 9 (11%) |
| Abdominal pain indexa | −0.2 (3.8) |
| Primary care visits for abdominal complaints in past 12 months | |
| 0 | 9 (11%) |
| 1–3 | 45 (56%) |
| 4–12 | 26 (32%) |
| >12 | 1 (1%) |
| Specialist visits for abdominal complaints in past 12 monthsa | 3.7 (4.2) |
| Hospitalization for abdominal complaints in past 12 months | 6 (7%) |
| Medication use | 78 (96%) |
aMean (SD)
bData not reported by all parents