(CBSNEWS) — Stomach aches may be a normal part of life for some children, but a new study shows that unexplained abdominal pain at an early age may cause anxiety or depression come adulthood.
Research published online Aug. 12 in Pediatrics shows that 51 percent of children who had abdominal pain as children also had an anxiety disorder sometime during their lifetime. Thirty percent had a current diagnosis at the time they were surveyed.
“A decade later, individuals who had stomach pain continued to have high rates of anxiety disorders, even if they no longer had stomach pain,” study author Lynn Walker, a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., told HealthDay.
