Estilo de vida, consumo de frutas y verduras asociados al estreñimiento en universitarios de ciencias de la salud

Introduction: Chronic constipation is a gastrointestinal disorder that significantly decreases the quality of life and is associated with increased risks of serious health conditions, including colorectal cancer and cardiovascular disease. Objective: To identify the association between lifestyle, fruit and vegetable consumption and constipation in university students of health sciences. Material and methods: Cross-sectional correlational study, conducted in 1,144 Peruvian students of public and private universities of health sciences. Fisher’s exact test was applied for the association between variables and a binary logistic regression, odds ratios (OR) were calculated to estimate the strength of association between predictor variables and constipation. The predictor variables were age, sex, lifestyle, and fruit and vegetable consumption. A significance level of p<0.05 was applied. Results: There was a significant difference in the frequency of constipation according to the type of vegetable consumption (p=0.016), portion of fruit per day (p=0.007), family history of chronic constipation (p=0.001), smoking (p=0.001) and consumption of alcoholic beverages (p=0.001). There was also a higher risk of suffering from constipation in women (OR=4.32; p=0.001), when consuming peeled fruits (OR=1.55; p=0.003), smoking (OR=2.78; p=0.001), drinking alcoholic beverages (OR=1.87; p=0.001) and if a family member, father, mother or siblings suffers from chronic constipation (OR=3.30; p=0.001). Likewise, there is a lower risk of suffering constipation if fruit is consumed daily (OR=0.61; p=0.001). Conclusion: There is a lower risk of constipation when consuming a variety of fruits daily; however, consuming peeled fruits and those with thin peels increases the risk of constipation. Being a woman, smoking, consuming alcoholic beverages and having a family history of chronic constipation increase the risk of constipation.