Benzamin M, Chowdhury MZR, Chakroborty P, Ahmed A, Tamal TB, Deb T, Karim AB. Occult constipation in children: An unaddressed problem of our day-to-day practice. World J Clin Pediatr 2025; 14(4): 109590 [DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v14.i4.109590]
Corresponding Author of This Article
MD Benzamin, MD, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Kajalshah, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh. drmd.benzamin@yahoo.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
Dec 9, 2025 (publication date) through Oct 31, 2025
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Times Cited (0)
Journal Information of This Article
Publication Name
World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics
ISSN
2219-2808
Publisher of This Article
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA
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Benzamin M, Chowdhury MZR, Chakroborty P, Ahmed A, Tamal TB, Deb T, Karim AB. Occult constipation in children: An unaddressed problem of our day-to-day practice. World J Clin Pediatr 2025; 14(4): 109590 [DOI: 10.5409/wjcp.v14.i4.109590]
MD Benzamin, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
MD Ziaur Rahman Chowdhury, Akhlaq Ahmed, Tuhin Barua Tamal, Tanmoy Deb, Department of Pediatrics, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
Pranto Chakroborty, Research Unit, Dr. Benzamin’s Paediatric Liver Research Center and Nutrition Clinic, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh
ASM Bazlul Karim, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujib Medical University, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Author contributions: Benzamin M and Chowdhury MZR were the guarantors and designed the study; Benzamin M and Chakroborty P participated in the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and drafted the initial manuscript; Chakroborty P, Tamal TB and Deb T participated in data collection; Ahmed A and Karim AB revised the article critically for important intellectual content; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Institutional review board statement: Prior to the commencement of this study, the research protocol was approved by the Departmental Review Board, Department of Pediatrics, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Sylhet.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent for publication was obtained from the parents.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Data can be provided on request.
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: MD Benzamin, MD, Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital, Kajalshah, Sylhet 3100, Bangladesh. drmd.benzamin@yahoo.com
Received: May 16, 2025 Revised: June 4, 2025 Accepted: September 3, 2025 Published online: December 9, 2025 Processing time: 169 Days and 7.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
In our day-to-day practice, constipation is a common problem in the pediatric population and cause of frequent visit in outpatient and emergency department. But occult constipation (OC) remains as the most unaddressed problem.
AIM
To investigate the clinical profile of OC in children.
METHODS
It was a prospective observational study, done in Bangladesh from January 2022 to December 2024. It included all consecutive children diagnosed as OC and were treated accordingly. Before diagnosis, secondary causes of the presenting symptoms were excluded with appropriate investigations. They were followed up monthly for 4 months and treatment response were measured by improvement of symptoms.
RESULTS
A total of 404 children were included in this study with mean age group of 76.50 ± 36.62 months, and male-female ratio of 1.67:1. The most common presenting complaint was abdominal pain (66%), followed by anorexia (49%), vomiting (24%), nausea (17%), frequent defecation with small volume stool (17%), altered bowel habit (16%), failure to thrive (14%) and recurrent helminthiasis (12%). Interestingly, 2.5% children presented with persistent diarrhea.
CONCLUSION
Abdominal pain is the most common presentation of OC. When symptoms cannot be explained by other etiology, OC should be kept in mind.
Core Tip: Occult constipation has a wide range of presentations, including abdominal pain, anorexia, vomiting, nausea, frequent defecation with small volume stool, altered bowel habit, failure to thrive, and recurrent helminthiasis. If we unable to address this condition, it will lead to unnecessary investigations and patients suffering.
