Abstract:

Intestinal constipation is a common clinical condition that affects many indivuals. But while it doesn't seem to be any fact that establishes a direct conection between obesity and intestinal constipation many believe they are related in a secondary level due to bad habits and other associated facts. This study has as its objective to identify the prevalence of intestinal constipation on obese individuals attended on an hospital outpatient and their associated factors. It's a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study. Clinical, anthropometric, behavioral and socioeconomic variables were studied. The sample includes 101 patients, both male and female with an IMC>30kg/m2. Prevalence of intestinal constipation was 33,7% according by the Rome III criteria and 29,7% according by self-assessment. The Kappa criteria between these two methods was 0,635. Through the Wexner Constipation Scoring System 69,7% of the sample exhibited moderate instestinal constipation. It was found an association between intestinal constipation and educational level (p=0,042). Literature with research that has assessed the relation between intestinal constipation and obesity is still scarce. It's important to consider that studies are not entirely consistent with regard to the development of intestinal constipation in this group of individuals, with some authors indicating that there was no relation between a higher prevalence of constipation in obeses. In conclusion, there was a good agreement between the diagnostic criteria for intestinal constipation used in the study and the prevalence found wasn't high. The many associated factors analysed, which are commonly linked with intestinal constipation, don't show a significant association, perhaps because the sample is formed by individuals with access to health care.

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