Published 20 March 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b831
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b831

Clinical Review

Chronic constipation in adults

Iain J D McCallum, specialty registrar, Sarah Ong, speciality registrar, Mark Mercer-Jones, consultant colorectal surgeon

1 Colorectal Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, Gateshead NE9 6SX

Correspondence to: M Mercer-Jones mark.mercer-jones@ghnt.nhs.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.


Chronic constipation is a common and debilitating condition
Many cases can be managed in primary care with simple measures
Investigations can often identify a cause for resistant constipation and thus guide treatment
Targeted surgery can be of great benefit to carefully selected patients


Chronic constipation in adults is a common and often debilitating problem that may present to almost any medical practitioner as it can have many causes. The most recent Rome criteria provide a useful research and clinical tool for defining chronic, functional constipation (box 1).1 For the problem to be described as chronic, the Rome criteria need to have been met for the previous three months, with the onset of symptoms six months prior to diagnosis. We prefer a more inclusive definition of chronic constipation: any patient experiencing consistent difficulty with defecation. This review examines the evidence for the modern approach to treating chronic constipation and is based . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Management of haemorrhoids
Austin G Acheson and John H Scholefield
BMJ 2008 336: 380-383. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Irritable bowel syndrome: diagnosis and management
A Agrawal and P J Whorwell
BMJ 2006 332: 280-283. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Biofeedback for pelvic floor dysfunction in constipation
G Bassotti, F Chistolini, F Sietchiping-Nzepa, G de Roberto, A Morelli, and G Chiarioni
BMJ 2004 328: 393-396. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Chronic constipation: let's start from definition, first of all in elderly.
C. Pedrolli
bmj.com, 27 Mar 2009 [Full text]
Bristol Stool Chart and Bristol Stool Form Scale
Kenneth W Heaton
bmj.com, 4 Apr 2009 [Full text]
Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student BMJ