A recent article identifies some important factors contributing to constipation in Hong Kong children (JPGN 2012; 55: 56-61).

Using a territory-wide questionnaire in 2318, Hong Kong Chinese elementary school students, the authors identified several factors associated with constipation which was present in 12.2% of this cohort:

• Refusal to pass bowel movements at school (OR 1.97).  In Hong Kong, students spend >8 hours per day at school.
• Having dinner with one/both parents <50% of time (OR 1.52).  May indicate less time with parents and less parental prompting.
• Nighttime sleep <7 hours (OR 1.87).  This is postulated to be related to increased homework and more stress which may affect gut motility.
• Frequent fast food consumption (OR 1.14).  This may be associated with less fiber intake.

On a tangential note, one of my sons informed me of “bad lip reading” on YouTube; some of these clips are really funny.  Since there was one relevant to the subject at hand, with over 2.5 million views, I’ve provided a link:

“Everybody Poops” – a bad lip reading of the Black Eyed Peas …

Additional blog entries related to constipation:

Stimulants for constipation

Diagnostic tests hardly ever help patients poop

It’s worth the cost

Think twice about checking thyroid