Allergy-related diseases and recurrent abdominal pain during childhood - a birth cohort study

Background: Allergy and immune dysregulation may have a role in the pathophysiology of recurrent abdominal pain of functional origin, but previous studies of allergy-related diseases and abdominal pain have contradictory results.

Aim: To examine the association between allergy-related diseases or sensitisation during childhood and abdominal pain at age 12 years.

Methods: In this birth cohort study of 4089 children, parents answered questionnaires regarding asthma, allergic rhinitis, eczema and food hypersensitivity ('allergy-related diseases') at ages 0,1,2,4,8 and 12 years. Blood for analyses of allergen-specific IgE was sampled at 4 and 8 years. At 12 years, the children answered questions regarding abdominal pain. Children with coeliac disease or inflammatory bowel disease were excluded. Associations were examined using multivariable logistic regression.

Results: Among 2610 children with complete follow-up, 9% (n = 237) reported abdominal pain at 12 years. All allergy-related diseases were associated with concurrent abdominal pain at 12 years and the risk increased with increasing number of allergy-related diseases (P for trend <0.001). Asthma at 1 and 2 years and food hypersensitivity at 8 years were significantly associated with abdominal pain at 12 years. There was an increased risk of abdominal pain at 12 years in children sensitised to food allergens at 4 or 8 years, but in stratified analyses, this was confined to children whose parents had not reported food hypersensitivity at time of sensitisation.

Conclusion: Allergy-related diseases as well as sensitisation to food allergens were associated with an elevated risk of abdominal pain, and the risk increased with the number of allergy-related diseases.