Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2023; 29(8): 1261-1288
Published online Feb 28, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i8.1261
Functional constipation in children: What physicians should know
Duc Long Tran, Palittiya Sintusek
Duc Long Tran, Thailand and Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Bangkok, Thailand
Duc Long Tran, Faculty of Medicine, Can Tho University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Can Tho City 9000, Viet Nam
Palittiya Sintusek, Thai Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Immunology Research Unit, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and Thai Red Cross, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Author contributions: Sintusek P and Tran DL contributed to conception of the study; Tran DL drafted the manuscript; Sintusek P and Tran DL wrote the manuscript; Sintusek P made critical revisions related to the intellectual content of the manuscript; and all authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by Thailand and Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund Chulalongkorn University, No. HEA663000047.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Palittiya Sintusek, MD, PhD, Doctor, Lecturer, Thai Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Immunology Research Unit, Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital and Thai Red Cross, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, 1873 Rama IV Road, Pathumwan Subdistrict, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. palittiya.s@chula.ac.th
Received: October 28, 2022
Peer-review started: October 28, 2022
First decision: November 14, 2022
Revised: December 5, 2022
Accepted: February 16, 2023
Article in press: February 16, 2023
Published online: February 28, 2023
Processing time: 122 Days and 20.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Functional constipation (FC) is a typical symptom of functional gastrointestinal disorders in children and its prevalence is high worldwide. Since the pathophysiology of FC in children is associated with stool withholding behavior, successful toilet training in combination with osmotic laxatives is crucial for the treatment childhood FC. Additionally, promising and innovative drugs can also aid in treatment success.