Predictors of Constipation in Healthy Children

Constipation in children is a common complaint, accounting for an estimated 3% of all pediatric office visits and 20% of visits to a pediatric gastroenterologist. Unfortunately, constipation can become chronic in many children even before the problem has been recognized by a parent or primary care physician. We have previously characterized the bowel habits of more than 3300 primarily middle class Caucasian children 1 to 8 years of age presenting to their primary care practitioner for a health maintenance visit. However, the validity of information concerning bowel habits of children obtained by recall is not well established. The potential benefit of this study to society will be the demonstration that a bowel habit questionnaire can predict the outcome of clinically important constipation.