The Burden of Constipation

Constipation is one of the commonest cases a clinician or doctor comes across, especially in the developed countries. The main reason of exceedingly common occurrence of constipation in the developed countries is the consumption of less dietary fibers. Constipation is not as common in developing countries as it is in developed countries due to the food habit, which includes the whole grains and lots of vegetables and fruits in developing countries. Western diet is mainly include refined and processed foods with little if any fiber, which leads to constipation. The only permanent solution to chronic constipation in absence of any underlying serious pathophysiology, is to change lifestyle (regular aerobic physical activity) and food habit permanently.

Constipation is one of the commonest medical problem that leads to self medication. According to reports only approximately one third of individuals suffering from constipation seek medical attention and most others indulge in self medication. Another reason for self medication in constipation is that there is generally some result from self medication, which may be transient and short lasting but never able to give appropriate relief from constipation. Millions of gallons of liquid paraffin and other liquids used in constipation and millions of kilos of laxatives have passed the gastrointestinal tracts of humans since the discovery of these medications and it can be convincingly said that a large percentage of these millions are self medication.

In contrast to diarrhea, mortality due to constipation is extremely rare, but the suffering (morbidity) is no less than diarrhea. United States population surveys put prevalence rates for chronic constipation at 12% to 19% of the population, which is as high as 30-60 million individuals. Women are affected by constipation two times as much a s males in the United States, as per national survey. Constipation along with diarrhea are the most common patient complaints faced by primary care doctors and account for half of the referrals to gastroenterologists.