Childhood functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) are complex psychosomatic disorders that decrease the quality of life. In adults, there is different subset of irritable bowel syndrome patients with and without accompanying psychiatric symptoms. Animal studies have shown that disrupting microbiota in early life physiological hallmarks of FGID. This project aims to study how gut microbiota development associates with functional gastrointestinal symptoms in childhood in two general population birth cohorts. Second, the study aims to assess whether there are subtypes of FGID based on gastrointestinal and psychiatric symptoms, and if microbiota development differs between the subtypes. I expect that there is a subtype with concurrent psychiatric symptoms, and subtype with more robust microbiota association. Studying the subtypes and connections to microbiota will help to understand the disorders and design new personalized interventions.

2022

2026