Autonomic functions and gastric motility in children with functional abdominal pain disorders

Table 1 Autonomic symptoms among children with abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders and controls, n (%)

Symptoms	AP-FGIDs, n = 92	Controls, n = 50	P value
Dizziness/light-headedness	14 (15)	3 (6)	0.151
Dry mouth or dry eye	3 (3)	1 (2)	1.002
Cold feet	0	0	-
Reduced limb sweating	6 (7)	1 (2)	0.432
Post prandial abdominal pain or discomfort	55 (60)	0	< 0.00011
Constipation or diarrhoea	32 (35)	2 (4)	< 0.00011

¹Chi-square test;

²Fisher's exact test.

Table 2 Comparison of autonomic parameters between children with abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders and controls

Autonomic test	Measurement	AP-FGIDs, n = 100	Controls, n = 50	P value1
		Median (range)	Median (range)
Resting heart rate (beats/min)	Resting heart rate (beats/min)	89.0 (57-110)	87.0 (63-114)	0.18
Heart rate response to deep breathing	Maximum-minimum heart rate (beats/min)	30.8 (10-60)	32.0 (10-57)	0.90
Lying to standing heart rate response	30:15 ratio	1.2 (0.9-1.6)	1.2 (0.9-1.8)	0.67
Valsalva manoeuvre	Valsalva ratio	1.5 (1-2.1)	1.5 (1-2.5)	0.23

¹Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 3 Comparison of gastric motility parameters between children with abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders and controls

Gastric motility parameter	AP-FGIDs, n = 100	Controls, n = 50	P value1
	Median (range)	Median (range)
Fasting antral area, cm2	1.6 (0.4-5.9)	1.3 (0.4-5.1)	0.19
Antral area at 1 min, cm2	9.8 (3.8-14.6)	9.8 (3.4-19.1)	0.42
Antral area at 15 min, cm2	4.8 (0.9-10.7)	3.6 (0.6-11.2)	< 0.0001
Gastric emptying rate, %	46.3 (16.0-77.9)	61.6 (10.0-88.5)	< 0.0001
Frequency of antral contraction, /3 min	8.0 (6-11)	9.0 (8-11)	< 0.0001
Amplitude of antral contraction, %	47.2 (22.8-83.0)	59.4 (32.6-85.4)	< 0.0001
Antral motility index	4.0 (1.7-7.5)	5.7 (2.9-8.1)	< 0.0001

¹Mann-Whitney U test.

Table 4 Correlation between autonomic parameters and gastric motility parameters among children with abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders and controls

	Gastric motility parameter	Valsalva ratio	Minimum -maximum heart rate	30:15 ratio
AP-FGIDs,	FAA	-0.01	0.04	-0.09
n = 100	AA1	-0.02	-0.02	-0.06
	AA15	-0.01	-0.03	-0.07
	GER	0.07	-0.03	0.06
	FAA	-0.02	-0.07	0.04
	AAC	0.07	-0.06	0.13
	MI	0.07	-0.07	0.14
Controls,	FAA	0.11	-0.05	-0.11
n = 50	AA1	0.03	0.01	-0.01
	AA15	0.07	0.05	0.17
	GER	0.2	0.1	0.39a
	FAC	0.7a	-0.09	0.14a
	AAC	-0.07	0.11	-0.2
	MI	0.05	0.17	0.07

Spearman correlation coefficient,

^aP < 0.05. FAA: Fasting antral area; AA1: Antral area at 1 min; AA15: Antral area at 15 min; GER: Gastric emptying rate; FAC: Frequency of antral contraction; AAC: Amplitude of antral contraction; MI: Antral motility index.