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Clues about constipation and more than 2.5 million views

July 11, 2012 6:37 am

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