Prevalence of abdominal migraine and recurrent abdominal pain in a Japanese clinic

Prevalence of abdominal migraine (AM) and recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) was evaluated in patients who visited Hikita Pediatric Clinic between May 2010 and April 2015. Patient data were collected prospectively using a questionnaire. Out of a total of 3611 cases, observed prevalence was 2.44% for repeated abdominal pain over a period of 3 months, 1.47% for RAP, and 0.19% for AM. Duration of abdominal pain was longer for AM than for non-AM RAP. Certain clinical features were significantly different between AM and non-AM RAP. No correlations were found among age at onset, frequency of attack, and duration of attack for various types of RAP. It was difficult to determine useful diagnostic criteria for distinguishing between AM and non-AM RAP. They did not appear to be separate disease entities but, instead, lie on a disease spectrum. The present prevalence of AM (0.19%) was lower than that in many previous studies from countries other than Japan.