Abstract
Acute gastroenteritis (AGE) is the most common disease predisposing to the development of Disorders of Gut-Brain Interactions (DGBI) in adults (post-infection DGBI: PI-DGBI). There is paucity of data on incidence and risk factors for the development of PI-DGBI in children. Aim 1) assess whether AGE predisposes children to the development of PI-DGBI. 2) assess whether the severity of AGE is associated with the development of PI-DGBI. Methods: A prospective, controlled, cohort study. Children with recent AGE (cases) and siblings (controls) were followed for 6 months. We assessed DGBIs using a validated questionnaire (QPGS IV) per Rome criteria. Forty-nine cases and 55 controls were enrolled; 4 cases (8.1%) and 1 control (1.8%) had a previous diagnosis of DGBI. At 3-months, 10 cases (20.4%) were diagnosed with DGBI vs. 1 (1.8%) control (p = 0.00). Among children without a history of DGBI prior to the AGE, 6 (12.2%) cases vs. 0 control were diagnosed with DGBI (p = 0.01) at follow-up. At 6 months, 5 cases (1 lost to follow-up) vs. 0 control had persistent DGBI (p= 0.03). Severity of AGE was correlated with PI-DGBI (ρ = 0.707, p = 0.00). Conclusion: children with AGE are more likely to develop DGBIs compared to controls. AGE symptom severity is associated with PI-DGBI.