Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome is a multisymptom construct, with abdominal pain (AP) acting as the driving symptom of patient-reported severity. The Food and Drug Administration considers a >30% decrease in AP as satisfactory improvement, but this has not been validated in children. We investigated the correspondence of 2 measures for AP assessment, ≥30% improvement in AP and global assessment of improvement. Secondary analysis of data from 72 children who completed a randomized clinical trial for abdominal pain-associated functional gastrointestinal disorders. Children completed daily assessment of AP intensity, functional disability inventory (FDI), question regarding pain's interference with activities, and 2 global assessment questions. We measured the extent to which ≥30% improvement of AP and global assessment questions correlated with each other and with disability. The global questions correlated with each other (r=0.74; P<0.0001) and with a ≥30% improvement in ap (p><0.01). global outcomes were satisfaction with treatment was inversely related to the child's report of interference with activities (p><0.01) and symptom relief was positively associated with ≥30% improvement in fdi scores (p><0.009). a 30% change in fdi scores was associated with global questions of symptom relief (p="0.009)" but not with satisfaction with treatment (p="0.07)." the association of ap improvement with interference with activities (p="0.14)" or change in fdi scores (p="0.27)" did not reach significance. currently used global assessments are significantly associated with decreased pain intensity, decreased interference with daily activities, and a ≥30% change in fdi scores, whereas recommended 30% improvement in pain intensity is not as comprehensive.>
