Objective
Chronic constipation and diarrhea are prevalent functional gastrointestinal disorders. Various factors related to diet and lifestyle contribute to functional bowel disorders. We aimed to examine the association between Oxidative Balance Score(OBS) and chronic constipation and diarrhea among US adult men and women.
Methods
A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey covering the years 2007 to 2010. Altogether, 4,462 subjects were enrolled in our study. The independent variable is the OBS scoring based on 20 types of dietary and lifestyle components. We conducted binary logistic regression, subgroup analysis by sex, and used restricted cubic spline (RCS) to illustrate the relationship between OBS and abnormal bowel health.
Results
In the fully-adjusted Model 3, the odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval for OBS in the fourth quartile was 0.302 (0.113, 0.808) (p for trend < 0.001) in men with constipation, compared to the third quartile. Similarly, the incidence of of diarrhea in women varied significantly across OBS in the third quartile [OR: 0.422 (0.218, 0.816), P = 0.010] and the fourth quartile [OR: 0.387 (0.178, 0.839), P = 0.016] (P for trend < 0.001). A negative linear trend between OBS and constipation is identified by RCS, with a p-value for non-linear relations greater than 0.05.
Conclusion
In conclusion, low OBS is negatively related to the risk of constipation in males and diarrhea in females.