- Title
- Prevalence and relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms among individuals of different body mass index: a population-based study
- Creator
- Eslick, Guy D.; Talley, Nicholas J.
- Relation
- Obesity Research and Clinical Practice Vol. 10, Issue 2, p. 143-150
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2015.05.018
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Background: Obesity has been identified as a potential risk factor for gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, although the data from community samples remain sparse. We assess the associations between GI symptoms and obesity in a population-based sample of Australian adults. Method: The prevalence of 26 GI symptoms was determined by a validated postal questionnaire which was sent to 5000 randomly selected residents. The response rate was 60%. GI symptoms were classified into six broader symptom groups based on the Rome II Criteria - abdominal pain, esophageal symptoms, dysmotility symptoms, diarrhea, vomiting, and constipation. Obesity was defined according to body mass index using self-reported height and weight. Results: The prevalence of obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) was 25.1%; 36.1% were overweight. There were significant and positive univariate associations between obesity and abdominal pain (OR = 1.75; 95% CI: 1.39-2.21), esophageal symptoms (OR = 1.74; 95% CI: 1.36-2.22), dysmotility symptoms (OR = 1.43; 95% CI: 1.16-1.77) and diarrhea (OR = 2.01; 95% CI: 1.65-2.45). The adjustment for socioeconomic characteristics and eating behaviors had minimal effect on the associations for abdominal pain (OR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79), esophageal symptoms (OR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.03-1.78), and diarrhea (OR = 1.86; 95% CI: 1.49-2.31); however, the association between obesity and dysmotility symptoms became non-significant. Obesity was not related to constipation. Conclusion: Obesity is an independent risk factor for abdominal pain, esophageal symptoms and diarrhea, but is not associated with dysmotility symptoms or constipation.
- Subject
- obesity; gastrointestinal symptoms; abdominal pain; diarrhea; population-based study
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1319730
- Identifier
- uon:23948
- Identifier
- ISSN:1871-403X
- Language
- eng
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