Lifestyle, psychological stress, and incidence of adolescent constipation: results from the Toyama birth cohort study.

Yamada, Masaaki; Sekine, Michikazu; Tatsuse, Takashi; Fujimura, Yuko

<bold>Background: </bold>We aimed to clarify the predisposing factors for adolescent constipation in a longitudinal study, because while factors associated with childhood constipation have been reported, prospective studies on the incidence of constipation are lacking.<bold>Methods: </bold>We enrolled 5540 adolescents aged 12 to 13 years from the Toyama Birth Cohort Study-a community-based prospective study examining children's health. The incidence of constipation, defined as bowel movement frequency of less than once every 2 days, was surveyed during the three-year period from baseline (grade 4) to follow-up (grade 7). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to explore the association between the incidence of adolescent constipation and their lifestyle variables.<bold>Results: </bold>A total of 261 adolescents (4.7%) developed constipation during the three-year period. Female sex (odds ratio [OR] = 2.62,) overweight (OR = 0.60), and infrequent intake of fruits (OR = 1.50) at baseline were associated with the incidence of constipation. Furthermore, factors related to lifestyle changes and psychological status such as skipping breakfast (OR = 1.73), becoming physically inactive (OR = 1.55), and being persistently irritated (OR = 1.80) were significantly associated with the incidence of constipation.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Our prospective study demonstrated that female sex, insufficient fruit intake, and deteriorating lifestyles such as skipping breakfast and becoming inactive during the 3-year period were associated with the incidence of adolescent constipation. Beyond anecdotal, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is recommended to reduce the incidence of adolescent constipation.

CONSTIPATION; BREAKFASTS; PHYSICAL activity; LIFESTYLES; TEENAGERS; FOOD habits; RESEARCH; RESEARCH methodology; DISEASE incidence; MEDICAL cooperation; EVALUATION research; COMPARATIVE studies; LONGITUDINAL method; PSYCHOLOGICAL stress

BMC Public Health, 2021, Vol 21, Issue 1, p1

1471-2458

Academic Journal

10.1186/s12889-020-10044-5