Association between insufficient sleep and constipation among elementary school children in Japan

A cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2019 and January 2020 in seven Japanese municipal elementary schools in Higashiyamato City, Tokyo. A questionnaire was distributed to 922 children enrolled in the 1st and 2nd grades. After excluding incomplete questionnaires, 629 (52.3% male) children were included in the analysis. Both sleep disorders and constipation are highly prevalent among elementary school children and could be associated with each other since sometimes they coexist in adults. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between sleep and constipation among community-based elementary school children. Among children who reported insufficient sleep, multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) for constipation was 2.82 (1.48-5.37; p-value: 0.002) and 2.19 (1.26-3.84; p-value: 0.008) for children reporting unrefreshing sleep. Constipation was significantly associated with insufficient and unrefreshing sleep in elementary school children. Since both functional constipation and sleep have been reported to be strongly linked with altered gut microbiome, future studies assessing the value of symbiotics in addressing these issues seem warranted.