Analysis of influential factors of functional constipation in children aged 2-7 years / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To analyze the risk factors of functional constipation in children aged 2-7 years.Methods:A case-control study was performed on 2-7-year-old children with functional constipation who were treated in the Department of Pediatrics, Peking University Third Hospital from May 20, 2019 to September 20, 2019 and healthy control children with same age.The general situation, defecation situation and factors that might affect the occu-rrence of constipation were collected through the questionnaire, the influence factors included antibiotic use before half year old, breastfeeding, dietary preferences, exercise, allergy-related medical history, parental medical history, family income and primary caregivers, which were analyzed by using a binary Logistic regression model. Results:A total of 203 subjects were included, including 81 children in the constipation group and 122 children in healthy control group.Thick stools, dry stools, painful bowel movements and reduced bowel movement frequency were the most common symptoms of functional constipation.The main causes children at this age were food supplements and going to kindergarten.The univariate analysis indicated that the history of anti-biotics before half year old, picky eating habits, exercise volume and allergy-related diseases, constipation-related family history, father′s allergic disease background, and whether the main caregivers were parents were significantly different between two groups (all P<0.05). The binary Logistic regre-ssion analysis revealed that father′s history of allergic diseases ( OR=2.302, 95% CI 1.109-4.780), the use of anti-biotics within 6 months after birth ( OR=2.300, 95% CI 1.053-5.022), parents′ history of constipation ( OR=2.151, 95% CI 1.106-4.128), and dietary preference of staple food ( OR=3.526, 95% CI 1.402- 8.867) were the risk factors for functional constipation in 2-7-year-old children. Conclusions:Parents′ history of constipation, father′s history allergic diseases and a dietary preference for staple food may be the risk factors for functional constipation.