Epidemiology

Worldwide prevalence of colic ranges from 17% to 25% in the first 6 weeks of life, dropping to 11% by 8-9 weeks, and to only 0.6% by 10-12 weeks.[2]​ Prevalence rates in prospective European studies range from 3% to 28%, and in retrospective studies from 8% to 40%.[3][4][5]​ The prevalence rate in the Asian population is considerably lower.[6] The wide variation in the prevalence rate may be explained by the differences in study design, method of data collection, site of recruitment, ethnic differences, and definition of infantile colic. Prospective studies are more reliable, as retrospective studies are prone to recall bias.

Colic occurs equally in both male and female infants.[7] Infants with colic tend to have siblings who also have this condition. While some investigators have reported an increased incidence in first-born infants, others have not found such an association.[4][8]

Some investigators have found that infantile colic is more common in low birth weight infants, but this is not a consistent finding.[4][9] In one large cohort, infants who were small for their gestational age (birth weight below 10th percentile) were at increased odds of infantile colic across all gestational age groups.[10]

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