We diagnosed pediatric functional gastrointestinal disorders in Korean children and adolescents using Rome III criteria and investigated the clinical validity of QPGS-Rome III.

Diagnosis based on QPGS was compared with the physician's diagnosis based on Rome III criteria. One hundred and thirty eight children and their parents completed the QPGS. Agreement rates were measured using Kappa method.

In physician's diagnoses, the most prevalent disorders were functional dyspepsia (39.1%), irritable bowel syndrome (38.4%), and functional abdominal pain (18.8%). Among QPGS based diagnoses, the most prevalent disorders were irritable bowel syndrome (39.1%), functional dyspepsia (29.7%), and functional abdominal pain (21.7%). The agreement rate was substantial (κ=0.72, p=0.00). Diagnostic disagreements probably resulted from different patient responses to bowel movement form and bowel frequency.

Functional dyspepsia, irritable bowel syndrome, and functional abdominal pain were the most common disorders by Rome III criteria in the Korean pediatric and adolescent patients. The agreement rate between physician's diagnoses and QPGS based diagnoses supported the validity of the QPGS-Rome III in Korean pediatric and adolescent patients. QPGS seems to be useful in diagnosis of patients with functional gastrointestinal disorders by Rome III criteria.