Recurrent abdominal pain: theories and pragmatics.

Although recurrent abdominal pain is a common complaint occurring in approximately 15% of school-age children, 90% of these children do not appear to have disease process that explains the pain. On the other hand, serious and life-threatening pediatric illnesses can present with recurrent abdominal pain as their only symptoms. This article proposes a clinical approach designed to identify those children with active disease processes, and presents a review of the current models proposed to explain the other 90% of children with recurrent abdominal pain. The objective of this review is to help pediatricians to minimize the morbidity associated with and the trauma caused by the evaluation of this common symptom in childhood.