Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 21, 2016; 22(11): 3252-3260
Published online Mar 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i11.3252
Constipation, hard stools, fecal urgency, and incomplete evacuation, but not diarrhea is associated with diabetes and its related factors
Noriko Ihana-Sugiyama, Naoyoshi Nagata, Ritsuko Yamamoto-Honda, Eiko Izawa, Hiroshi Kajio, Takuro Shimbo, Masafumi Kakei, Naomi Uemura, Junichi Akiyama, Mitsuhiko Noda
Noriko Ihana-Sugiyama, Ritsuko Yamamoto-Honda, Hiroshi Kajio, Mitsuhiko Noda, Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan
Noriko Ihana-Sugiyama, Masafumi Kakei, Division of General Medicine, Jichi Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
Naoyoshi Nagata, Eiko Izawa, Junichi Akiyama, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan
Ritsuko Yamamoto-Honda, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan
Eiko Izawa, Mitsuhiko Noda, Diabetes Research, Diabetes Research Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan
Takuro Shimbo, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan
Takuro Shimbo, Ohta Nishinouchi Hospital, Fukushima 963-8022, Japan
Masafumi Kakei, First Department of Comprehensive Medicine, Saitama Medical Center, Jichi Medical University School of Medicine, Saitama 330-0834, Japan
Naomi Uemura, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kohnodai Hospital, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Chiba 272-8516, Japan
Mitsuhiko Noda, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Saitama Medical University, Saitama 350-0495, Japan
Author contributions: Ihana-Sugiyama N and Nagata N wrote the manuscript; Nagata N is an equal first author; Nagata N and Noda M designed the study; Ihana-Sugiyama N, Yamamoto-Honda R, Izawa E and Nagata N collected clinical information; Shimbo T advised on statistical analysis; Nagata N and Akiyama J performed endoscopy; Kajio H, Kakei M, Noda M and Uemura N advised on the manuscript content; Nagata N, Akiyama J and Noda M edited the manuscript.
Supported by Health Sciences Research Grants (Comprehensive Research on Life-Style Related Diseases including Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes Mellitus No. H25-016) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan, and supported in part by Grants-in-Aid for Research from the National Center for Global Health and Medicine No. 26A-201.
Institutional review board statement: Ethics approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo, Japan.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Naoyoshi Nagata, MD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan. nnagata_ncgm@yahoo.co.jp
Telephone: +81-3-32027181
Received: November 9, 2015
Peer-review started: November 10, 2015
First decision: November 27, 2015
Revised: December 12, 2015
Accepted: December 30, 2015
Article in press: December 30, 2015
Published online: March 21, 2016
Processing time: 125 Days and 12.8 Hours
Abstract

AIM: To determine the bowel symptoms associated with diabetes and diabetes-related factors after excluding gastrointestinal (GI) organic diseases.

METHODS: Participants were 4738 (603 diabetic and 4135 non-diabetic) patients who underwent colonoscopy and completed a questionnaire. On the day of pre-colonoscopy, 9 symptoms (borborygmus, abdominal distension, increased flatus, constipation, diarrhea, loose stools, hard stools, fecal urgency, and incomplete evacuation) were prospectively evaluated on a 7-point Likert scale. The test-retest reliability of the bowel symptom scores from the baseline and second questionnaires was analyzed using kappa statistics. Associations between bowel symptom scores and diabetes or diabetes-related factors were analyzed by a rank-ordered logistic model adjusted for related confounders, and odds ratios (ORs) were estimated.

RESULTS: In multivariate analysis, constipation [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.57, CI: 1.33-1.85, P < 0.01] and hard stools (AOR = 1.56, CI: 1.33-1.84, P < 0.01) were associated with diabetes, and fecal urgency (AOR = 1.16, CI: 0.99-1.37, P = 0.07) and incomplete evacuation (AOR = 1.16, CI: 1.00-1.36, P = 0.06) were marginally associated with diabetes. These symptoms remained associated even after excluding organic GI diseases on colonoscopy. Test-retest reliability of symptom score with a mean duration of 3.2 mo was good (mean kappa, 0.69). Associations of symptoms with diabetes-related factors were found; constipation with HbA1c ≥ 8.0% (AOR = 2.11, CI: 1.19-3.73), body mass index (BMI) < 25 (AOR = 2.11, CI: 1.22-3.66), and insulin use (AOR = 1.90, CI: 1.08-3.36); hard stools with diabetes duration (AOR = 1.03, CI: 1.00-1.07); fecal urgency with BMI < 25 (AOR = 1.73, CI: 1.00-2.98); and incomplete evacuation with BMI < 25 (AOR = 2.60, CI: 1.52-4.43), serum creatinine level (AOR = 1.27, CI: 1.10-1.47), and insulin use (AOR = 1.92, CI: 1.09-3.38).

CONCLUSION: Diabetes is associated with constipation, hard stools, fecal urgency, and incomplete evacuation, and poor glycemic control, duration, leanness, and nephropathy affect the risk of these symptoms.

Keywords: Functional bowel disease; Gastrointestinal symptom rating scale; Decreased passage of stools; Diabetic complications

Core tip: This study determined the bowel symptoms associated with diabetes. Patients underwent colonoscopy and completed a questionnaire on 9 bowel symptoms. Symptoms evaluated on a 7-point Likert scale were compared between baseline and the second questionnaire for test-retest reliability. Constipation and hard stools were associated with diabetes, and fecal urgency and incomplete evacuation were marginally associated with diabetes. These relations remained after excluding organic gastrointestinal diseases. Long-term reliability of symptom score suggested that these symptoms remain consistent over a given period. In diabetes, poor glycemic control, diabetes duration, low BMI, and high creatinine level were associated with these symptoms.