Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome

Basics

Description

  • Cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) is characterized by recurrent and stereotypical episodes of vomiting with intervening periods of normal health.
  • Essential clinical features of CVS are two or more periods of intense nausea and paroxysmal vomiting lasting hours to days within a 6-month period, return to baseline health between episodes, stereotypical episodes with regard to timing of symptoms and duration; as well as the absence of an identifiable organic cause for vomiting.

Epidemiology

  • CVS commonly starts in early childhood with approximately 46% of children developing symptoms at ≤3 years of age.
  • Prevalence of 0.2–1% has been reported.
  • The syndrome is more common in Caucasians.

Commonly Associated Conditions

  • 2/3 of CVS patients have symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
  • 11% of CVS patients have migraine headaches and a third of patients later develop migraine headaches.

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