Background. Functional constipation continues to be one of the urgent problems in the practice of a pediatrician and pediatric gastroenterologist. The frequency of constipation in children is about 2530%. A regular, painless bowel movement with a stool of soft consistency is possible only with a whole range of measures, including the use of laxatives. The possibility of using therapeutic magnesium-containing mineral water as an osmotic laxative in children and adolescents has not been adequately addressed in the literature.
Aim: to study the effectiveness of the use of magnesium-containing mineral water in treatment and prevention of functional constipation in children and adolescents.
Methods. The design was a randomized prospective, open, comparative study. The study included 95 children and adolescents aged 1016 years (average age 12.7 0.2 years) who were receiving sanatorium therapy with a diagnosis of functional constipation. Follow-up was performed for 18 days. The patients received basic therapy in the form of a sparing-exercise regimen, therapeutic nutrition, health-improving massage, and physiotherapy exercises. The subjects were divided into 2 groups by common randomization. The group 1 consisted of 55 patients who, along with basic treatment, took therapeutic mineral magnesium-containing water. The group 2 (control) consisted of 40 pediatric patients who received only basic treatment. Patient groups were comparable by disease pattern, gender, and age. The examination included a general medical examination, filling out special questionnaires reflecting the frequency and nature of the defecation; assessment of the vegetative status and functional reserves of the body on the Health Sources hardware complex.
Results. In the study group, by the day 5 of therapy, daily defecation was achieved in 49.0% of patients; and by the end of the course of treatment, defecation regularity was registered in 89.1% of children. In the control group, the positive changes were less pronounced and amounted to 55% by the end of the treatment course (p 0.05). When taking mineral water, the nature of the defecation changed, namely in 89.1% of patients, it became of soft consistency with free painless bowel movement. When assessed according to the Bristol scale, the defecation corresponded to the types 3 and 4 with the initial type 1. In patients who did not receive a course of mineral water, during the entire follow-up period, no significant changes in the nature of defecation were detected, while the type 3 was noted in only 18% of patients by the end of the course of treatment. When taking mineral water, most patients of the main group developed a persistent reflex to morning defecation after ingestion of mineral water.
Conclusion. Studies have shown that magnesium-containing mineral water is an effective, safe and easy to use means of correcting functional constipation in children and can be used both in outpatient practice and in sanatorium treatment.
The role of magnesium deficiency in the formation of functional constipation in children and adolescents