Kids With ADHD Often Prone to Bowel Problems: Study | WPN World People News

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are significantly more likely to suffer from chronic constipation and fecal incontinence than kids without the neurobehavioral condition, a new study says.

The study of more than 700,000 children found that constipation nearly tripled and fecal incontinence increased six-fold among kids with ADHD.

We also found that children with ADHD tend to have more visits to see a doctor, suggesting that these children have more severe constipation and fecal incontinence than other children.

Taking medication to treat ADHD did not seem to affect the number of office visits for these bowel problems.

In the United States, more than 8 percent of children are diagnosed with ADHD. Kids with the condition display hyperactivity, as well as difficulty staying focused, paying attention and controlling their behavior.

These ADHD-related behavioral problems may lie behind the increased risk for bathroom woes.

Kids with ADHD may not respond properly to physical cues to go to the bathroom. They may have difficulty interrupting other or more desirable tasks they wish to engage in at that time.

Fecal incontinence is a more severe form of constipation. What happens is, kids have constipation for several years and then they lose normal cues to go to the bathroom entirely. Then ... they just overflow and leak into their underwear.

Parents who notice that their child is suffering from constipation should see their pediatrician, Nylund said. In addition, parents can prevent constipation by increasing fiber in their child's diet.

Parents need to be aware that this risk exists and hopefully prevent constipation from occurring.

Parents are noticing that they do have constipation, but they are not bringing it to the attention of a pediatrician or child psychiatrist, and it's going unnoticed and unaddressed.

Children with ADHD also might digest food more slowly or irregularly than children without ADHD. Physiologically, that can lead to problems that cause constipation or fecal incontinence.

What we do is place them on lubrication therapy -- medication that will lubricate the bowel to help stimulate defecation. The other thing we do is simple behavior modification. This involves teaching the child to go to the bathroom at specific times, usually twice a day -- once before going to school and once in the evening, he said.

The researchers found the risk for fecal incontinence was more than six times greater among kids with ADHD and the risk for constipation was almost three times higher.

Source: U.S. HealthDay News