OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of overweight/obesity in a group of children with chronic functional constipation. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of 257 children with chronic functional constipation as defined by Rome II criteria, 2-15 years old, assisted in a tertiary pediatric gastroenterology clinic. Demographic, clinical, diagnostic and anthropometric information was extracted from the charts. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated and The Centers for Disease Control's BMI growth reference was used to determine age and gender-specific BMI percentiles of the children. Overweight/obesity was classified as a BMI of >85th percentile, and euthrophy as BMI >5th and <85th percentile. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference for demographics and clinical variables between the subgroups overweight/obesity and eutrophy. In constipated children, prevalence of overweight/obesity was 24.4%. Prevalence of overweight/obesity did not differ between boys and girls or across age groups (<7 years and >7 years). CONCLUSIONS: Demographics and clinical characteristics were similar between the overweight/obese and eutrophic subgroups, which suggests that these characteristics do not influence on the prevalence of overweight/obesity in constipated children. The estimated prevalence of overweight/obesity in this group was similar to the prevalence of age-matched reference for Brazilian children.
obesity; overweight; constipation; epidemiology
