Risk factors for infantile colic : a case control study

Abstract EN

Objective: Infantile colic is a common problem especially in first 3 months of life and distressed crying is the main symptom.

It is characterized by crying fulfill Wessel’s criteria “crying for more than 3 hours a day, for more than 3 days a week and for more than 3 weeks”.

It is a benign condition with spontaneous resolution in most cases.

The aim of this is to identify factors that may increase the risk of having colic and assess response to certain medications an measures.

Methods: A case-control study was carried out on 300 babies (150 case and 150 controls) attending the outpatient clinic of Rapareen teaching hospital for children, Erbil, Iraq from June 1, 2014 to Sep 30, 2014.

Babies who fulfilled Wessel’s criteria for infantile colic were considered as cases.

Results: More than half of those diagnosed with infantile colic were below 6 weeks of age (52.3%).

Colic is more in those born prematurely and who were products of caesarian section.

Most of colic babies have crying of longer duration and mainly at night with decreased daily sleep compared to control group with high significant association.

Conclusions: Infantile colic is more common among younger infants especially those born prematurely and there is no effective medication to relieve colic.