. 2020 Jun 3;20:168. doi: 10.1186/s12876-020-01306-y

Table 2.

The prevalence and likelihood of constipation in different demographic groups and dietary factors

Prevalence of constipation				Likelihood of constipation
Prevalence of constipation				Univariate logistic regression		Multivariate logistic regression
Demographic features	%	95% CI	p value	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p value	Odds ratio (95% CI)	p value
Overall	15.6	13.2–18.0
Sex			< 0.001**
Men	10.6	7.6–13.6		Reference		Reference
Women	19.7	16.2–23.3		2.07 (1.40–3.04)	< 0.001**	2.08 (1.39–3.10)	< 0.001**
Age groups			< 0.001**
18–38 years	23.5	18.6–28.3		Reference		Reference
39–54 years	13.3	9.5–17.2		0.50 (0.33–0.77)	0.002**	0.49 (0.31–0.77)	0.002**
55–80 years	9.9	6.4–13.3		0.36 (0.22–0.57)	< 0.001**	0.38 (0.23–0.64)	< 0.001**
Educational level			0.13
Primary	11.7	6.8–16.6		Reference		Reference
Secondary	14.8	11.1–18.5		1.31 (0.76–2.27)	0.33	1.32 (0.74–2.37)	0.35
Tertiary	18.3	14.2–22.3		1.69 (0.98–2.89)	0.06	1.63 (0.90–2.94)	0.11
Living environment			0.21
Rural	13.5	9.7–17.3		Reference
Urban	16.7	13.7–19.8		1.28 (0.87–1.90)	0.21
Body mass index			0.21
Underweight	12.5	−1.8–26.8		0.70 (0.21–2.43)	0.58	0.58 (0.16–2.04)	0.40
Normal weight	16.9	13.3–20.5		Reference		Reference
Overweight	12.2	8.4–15.9		0.68 (0.44–1.06)	0.09	0.96 (0.60–1.52)	0.85
Obese	18.9	12.7–25.0		1.15 (0.72–1.84)	0.57	1.72 (1.02–2.90)	0.04*
Dietary factors
Water intake < 1.5 L/day	21.5	16.3–26.6	0.003**^a	1.78 (1.22–2.60) ^a	0.003**	1.70 (1.14–2.53)^a	0.01*
Vegetables < 3 spoons/day	22.5	16.9–27.9	0.001**^a	1.88 (1.28–2.77) ^a	0.001**	1.53 (1.02–2.30)^a	0.04*
Fruits < 2 pieces/day	16.7	13.3–20.1	0.33^a	1.20 (0.83–1.73) ^a	0.33
Whole grain bread < 3 slices/day	17.8	13.3–22.1	0.23^a	1.26 (0.87–1.84)^a	0.23

* Statistical significance of p < 0.05

** Statistical significance of p < 0.005

^a The reference category is more than the indicated quantity of water, vegetables, fruits and bread respectively