Background: Constipation is one of the most frequent pathological conditions that a general pediatrician deals with.
Objective: The aim of the study was to describe childhood constipation related misconceptions or misunderstandings, knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers. Also, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence, underlying pathology, and different etiologies of childhood constipation.
Methods: This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that included a questionnaire survey of 200 parents attending child health clinics in Sayed Galal university hospital during the period from March to September 2021.
Results: The age of studied cases ranged from one month to 16 years with a mean of 3 ± 3.9 year. In our study, 110 of cases were male (55%) while 90 cases (45%) were female, 160 child (80 %) have different problems in their life that affect their bowel habit, and 181 children (90.5 %) have functional constipation, while the remaining 19 children (9.5 %) have organic constipation and the most important cause was Hirschsprung disease (8 cases (4%).
Conclusion: Personality, psychological and physical health, and childrearing practices are the main causes of functional constipation in children. Also, functional constipation was the most common cause of constipation in children. History of delayed passage of meconium, presence of abdominal distension, and absence of fecal impaction point to an organic pathology.