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Updated: Apr 24, 2026
Electroacupuncture Combined with Chinese Medicine Ironing Therapy for Functional Constipation
Published on: July 5, 2024
Prevalence and risk of developing comorbid conditions in patients with chronic constipation
Reema Mody1, Annie Guérin, Beverly Fok
1Takeda Pharmaceuticals International Inc. , Deerfield, IL , USA.
Objective:
To estimate the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI comorbidities and the risk of incident comorbidities among patients with and without chronic constipation (CC).
Research Design And Methods:
Adults with CC were identified from a large retrospective US claims database. Each CC patient was matched 1:3 to CC-free patients by birth year, sex, and region of residence.
Main Outcome Measures:
Prevalence of GI and non-GI comorbidities was measured over a 1-year period. Relative risk of new comorbidities was also estimated among patients who were free of the studied comorbidity prior to the index date.
Results:
Mean age was 61.9 years; 33.3% of patients were male. The 1-year prevalence of GI comorbidities was significantly higher in CC (N = 28,854) vs. CC-free (N = 86,562) patients (all p < 0.05). The risk of developing new GI conditions was also significantly higher in CC patients for all studied conditions except ulcerative colitis: megacolon (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] HR [CI] = 11.96 [8.16-17.53]), intestinal impaction (10.56 [9.22-12.10]), volvulus (7.12 [5.42-9.35]), other specified functional intestinal disorders (6.67 [5.57-8.00]), and other unspecified functional disorders of intestine (4.60 [3.61-5.87]). Similarly, 1-year prevalence of non-GI comorbidities was higher in CC patients, as was the risk of developing new conditions: depression and mood disorder (HR [CI] = 1.84 [1.77-1.90]), neurological disorders (1.68 [1.62-1.74]), iron deficiency anemia (1.52 [1.47-1.57]), hypothyroidism (1.40 [1.34-1.46]), and peripheral vascular disorders (1.40 [1.34-1.46]).
Limitations:
An algorithm was used to define CC as there is no specific diagnosis code to identify CC.
Conclusions:
CC patients had significantly higher prevalence and were at increased risk of developing new GI and non-GI comorbidities than age-, gender- and region-matched CC-free patients. Future research is warranted to better understand these associations.
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