慢性便秘的流行病学研究现状

慢性便秘是临床常见病症，老年人是其高危高发人群。慢性便秘不仅危害患者的身心健康、降低患者的生活质量，而且产生的直接医疗费用不菲，加重了患者和社会的经济负担。深入开展便秘的流行病学的研究，掌握慢性便秘的流行病学特点，尤其是危险因素及高危人群，对于制订慢性便秘的干预策略和干预措施以及开展慢性便秘的社区综合干预，都具有极其重要的意义。本文主要就慢性功能性便秘的流行病学研究现状做一简要综述，供同道参考。

Epidemiology of chronic constipation: current status

Chronic constipation is a common clinical syndrome, and the elderly is one of its high-risk population. It not only brings harm to patients＇ physical and mental health, and reduces their life quality, but also adds much more to the medical cost as well as the social and economic burden to these patients and the whole society. It is of great significance to conduct an in-depth survey on the epidemiology of chronic constipation aiming at revealing its epidemiological characteristics, especially its risk factors and high-risk populations, so as to establish prevention strategies and measures as well as to develop more comprehensive interventions in community. In this article, we reviewed recent progress in the epidemiology of chronic constipation in hope of providing some meaningful clues for clinical practices.