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What may increase your child's risk for problems from abdominal pain?

Healthwise
By Jan Nissl, RN, BS

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Many conditions, medicines, and diseases interfere with the ability to heal or fight infection. Your child may be at risk for a more serious problem from his or her symptoms if he or she has any of the following. Be sure to tell your child's health professional.

Conditions

  • A newborn or is less than 3 months old. Newborns younger than 3 months of age have a greater risk for developing dehydration than older infants and children.
  • Babies born prematurely. This risk continues until the child is 6 months older than when he or she was expected to be born.
  • Abnormally slow growth and development
  • Previous abdominal surgery
  • A structural problem of the digestive tract, including:
    • Intussusception
    • Malrotation
    • Hirschsprung's disease
  • Travel outside of native country

Medicines

  • Corticosteroid treatment, such as prednisone
  • Medicines to support organ transplant
  • Medicines used to treat cancer (chemotherapy)
  • Radiation therapy

Diseases

  • Cancer
  • Diabetes
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Heart defects
  • Hepatitis
  • Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
  • Inguinal hernia
  • Inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis
  • Kidney disease
  • Malabsorption syndromes, such as celiac disease or cystic fibrosis
  • Pancreatitis
  • Previous gastrointestinal bleeding caused by:
    • Bleeding ulcers (peptic ulcer disease)
    • Inflammation of the stomach lining (gastritis)
  • Sickle cell disease
  • Thyroid or parathyroid disease
  • Urinary tract infections

Credits

Author Jan Nissl, RN, BS
Editor Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA
Associate Editor Tracy Landauer
Primary Medical Reviewer Michael J. Sexton, MD - Pediatrics
Specialist Medical Reviewer Thomas Emmett Francoeur, MDCM, CSPQ, FRCPC - Pediatrics
Last Updated January 16, 2009
Last Updated: 01/16/2009

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