Medical research

How gut microbes help alleviate constipation

Scientists have identified the genes in the probiotic Bifidobacteria longum responsible for improving gut motility. A research team reporting November 21 in the journal Cell Host & Microbe found that B. longum strains possessing ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

Constipation may be a marker for dementia risk

Chronic constipation may not only be an indicator of gut health, but a potential warning sign of thinking declines, a preliminary study suggests.

Medications

New drug target to treat pain from visceral organs

An approved drug for chronic constipation also relieves the pain associated with that condition. New research by Scott Waldman, MD, Ph.D., chair of pharmacology, physiology and cancer biology at Jefferson, demonstrates that ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Is it Parkinson's? These 10 signs could tell

Parkinson's disease can be hard for the average person to identify, but 10 warning signs may offer an early clue that you or a loved one may be developing the disease.

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Constipation (also known as costiveness, dyschezia, and dyssynergic defaecation) refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation. Severe constipation includes obstipation (failure to pass stools or gas) and fecal impaction (see also Bowel obstruction).

Constipation is common; in the general population incidence of constipation varies from 2 to 30%.

Constipation is a symptom with many causes. These causes are of two types: obstructed defecation and colonic slow transit (or hypomobility). About 50% of patients evaluated for constipation at tertiary referral hospitals have obstructed defecation. This type of constipation has mechanical and functional causes. Causes of colonic slow transit constipation include diet, hormones, side effects of medications, and heavy metal toxicity.

Treatments include changes in dietary habits, laxatives, enemas, biofeedback, and surgery. Because constipation is a symptom, not a disease, effective treatment of constipation may require first determining the cause.

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