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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2025; 31(40): 112637
Published online Oct 28, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i40.112637
Published online Oct 28, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i40.112637
Comprehensive microbial and clinical profiling of functional constipation: A stratified comparative study of age and constipation subtype
Hui-Ting Zhu, Hui-Fen Wang, Qin Zhang, Miao Wang, Shi-Yu Du, Yan-Li Zhang, Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing 100029, China
Ju-Fang Bai, Department of Gastroenterology, Qinghai Provincial People’s Hospital, Xining 810007, Qinghai Province, China
Co-first authors: Hui-Ting Zhu and Hui-Fen Wang.
Co-corresponding authors: Shi-Yu Du and Yan-Li Zhang.
Author contributions: Zhu HT, Wang HF, Zhang YL and Du SY contributed to the study conception and design; Zhu HT and Wang HF contributed to material preparation and analysis; Zhu HT, Wang HF, Zhang Q and Bai JF contributed to data collection and analysis; Zhu HT written the first draft of the manuscript; Zhu HT, Wang HF, Zhang Q, Bai JF, Wang M, Du SY, Zhang YL commented on previous versions of the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the China Medical and Health Development Foundation, No. 2022-HX-76; and China-Japan Friendship Hospital High-level Hospital Clinical Business Expenses Special Project, No. 2023-NHLHCRF-YYPPLC-ZR-19.
Institutional review board statement: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital (No. 2022-KY-233).
Clinical trial registration statement: This study is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. The registration identification number is No. NCT06339697.
Informed consent statement: All participants provided written informed consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: The original contributions presented in the study are included in the Supplementary material; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan-Li Zhang, MD, Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, No. 2 East Yinghua Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. 13521234067@163.com
Received: August 4, 2025
Revised: August 26, 2025
Accepted: September 23, 2025
Published online: October 28, 2025
Processing time: 87 Days and 3.5 Hours
Revised: August 26, 2025
Accepted: September 23, 2025
Published online: October 28, 2025
Processing time: 87 Days and 3.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study highlights the distinct gut microbiota profiles associated with age and constipation subtypes in patients with functional constipation (FC). Using 16S rRNA sequencing, we found significant age-related differences in microbial diversity and composition, with older adults exhibiting reduced richness and beneficial taxa. Constipation subtypes also showed distinct microbial patterns, with slow-transit constipation enriched in taxa linked to reduced motility and defecatory disorder characterized by motility-promoting microbes. These findings underscore the pathophysiological heterogeneity of FC and support the development of age- and subtype-specific microbiota-targeted therapies for precision diagnosis and treatment.