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World J Clin Pediatr. Mar 9, 2022; 11(2): 105-119
Published online Mar 9, 2022. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v11.i2.105
Non-pharmacological management of pediatric functional abdominal pain disorders: Current evidence and future perspectives
Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Hanna Santos Marques, Vinícius Lima de Souza Gonçalves, Talita Costa dos Santos, Carolina Ladeia Cirne, Natália Oliveira e Silva, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Fabrício Freire de Melo
Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Talita Costa dos Santos, Carolina Ladeia Cirne, Natália Oliveira e Silva, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Fabrício Freire de Melo, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil
Hanna Santos Marques, Vinícius Lima de Souza Gonçalves, Campus Vitória da Conquista, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45083-900, Bahia, Brazil
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design, literature review and analysis, manuscript drafting, critical revision, and editing, and approval of the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest exist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fabrício Freire de Melo, PhD, Professor, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58, Quadra 17, Lote 58, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil. freiremelo@yahoo.com.br
Received: March 20, 2021
Peer-review started: March 20, 2021
First decision: July 18, 2021
Revised: July 19, 2021
Accepted: February 11, 2022
Article in press: February 11, 2022
Published online: March 9, 2022
Processing time: 353 Days and 17.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Functional abdominal pain disorders are an important and prevalent cause of functional gastrointestinal disorders among children. In the absence of sufficiently effective and safe pharmacological treatments for this public problem, non-pharmacological therapies emerge as a viable means of treating these patients. Thus, the present study provides a review of current and relevant evidence on non-pharmacological management of these disorders, as cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation, acupuncture, and others. This article also analyzes the quality of publications in the area, assessing whether it is possible to state if non-pharmacological therapies are viable, safe, and sufficiently well-based for an appropriate and effective prescription.