Childhood Constipation In A General Pediatrics Unit In Bamako

Background: Constipation is a symptom that corresponds to an anomaly of the stools or their elimination: they are too bulky or too hard, too rare, or their elimination is painful, even incomplete.

Objective: was to determine the frequency, the contributing factors, the signs and the therapeutic methods of constipation in children in the pediatric department of the CHU Gabriel Touré.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with prospective collection from April 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020. All patients aged 0 to 15 who consulted in the pediatric department for constipation and responding to the Rome IV criteria.

Results: We registered 75 patients. The hospital frequency of 0.23%. The age group from one month to two years represented 61.3% of the patients, the average age was 27.7 +/- 43 months. The male gender predominated with 58.7%. Constipation alone was the most common reason for consultation with 62.6%. One stool per week was found in 77.3% of patients. Pain on defecation was found in 65.3% of patients. Constipation was functional in 69.3% of patients. Hirschsprung disease was the cause of organic constipation in 65.2% of patients. Laxatives were prescribed in 64% of patients at the consultation.

Conclusions: Constipation is a frequent pathology that affects children at all ages. It is of functional origin in most case.