A study of 111 children with recurrent abdominal pain

One hundred and eleven children with recurrent abdominal pain were studied to determine the clinical features in a group of unselected children presenting in a general paediatric practice. Organic disease was found in four children and was easy to recognize. There were characteristic clinical features in children with no apparent organic cause for pain which suggest that detailed investigations are inappropriate. A simple psychosomatic approach showed an immediate and sustained improvement in symptoms in 70% of children studied.