Functional gastrointestinal disorders in children with obesity in primary care

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate obesity as a risk factor for the presence of functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGD) in children with obesity. Material and methods: A cross-sectional study, comparative of cases and controls, was conducted in children aged between 5 and 12 years old, selected by the presence or absence of obesity; Anthropometric, sociodemographic data, family history of endocrinological diseases, family history of FGD, presence of abdominal symptoms and type of FGD according to Rome IV criteria were obtained. Statistical analysis was descriptive and inferential using the chi(2) test. OR was used to calculate the risk between groups. Results: 130 cases and 135 controls were included, giving a total of 265 participants. Significant associations were found only in the case group between family history of functional gastrointestinal disorder (p=0.034) and obesity (p=0.000) with the presence of FGD. Likewise, a risk of 8.16 was determined for children with obesity (OR=8.16; CI95\%: 4.67 - 14.25) and in this same group, a risk of 2.53 in those with a family history of functional digestive disorder individually (OR= 2.53; 95\% CI: 1.05 - 6.1) of manifesting some functional gastrointestinal disorder. Conclusions: obesity is a determining factor for the appearance of functional gastrointestinal disorders and that the concomitant presence of a family history of FGD increases this risk even more.