• Ke Han, Xiangyao Wang, Yan Wang, Xiaotong Niu, Jingyuan Xiang, Nan Ru, Chunxu Jia, Hongyi Sun, Zhengting He, Yujie Feng, and Enqiang Linghu.
• Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
• Chin. Med. J. 2024 Jun 24.

BackgroundEpidemiological data on chronic diarrhea in the Chinese population are lacking, and the association between obesity and chronic diarrhea in East Asian populations remains inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of chronic diarrhea and its association with obesity in a representative community-dwelling Chinese population.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was based on a multistage, randomized cluster sampling involving 3503 residents aged 20-69 years from representative urban and rural communities in Beijing. Chronic diarrhea was assessed using the Bristol Stool Form Scale (BSFS), and obesity was determined based on body mass index (BMI). Logistic regression analysis and restricted cubic splines were used to evaluate the relationship between obesity and chronic diarrhea.ResultsThe standardized prevalence of chronic diarrhea in the study population was 12.88%. The average BMI was 24.67 kg/m 2 . Of all the participants, 35.17% (1232/3503) of participants were classified as overweight and 16.13% (565/3503) as obese. After adjustment for potential confounders, individuals with obesity had an increased risk of chronic diarrhea as compared to normal weight individuals (odds ratio = 1.58, 95% confidence interval: 1.20-2.06). A nonlinear association between BMI and the risk of chronic diarrhea was observed in community residents of males and the overall participant group ( P  = 0.026 and 0.017, respectively).ConclusionsThis study presents initial findings on the prevalence of chronic diarrhea among residents of Chinese communities while offering substantiated evidence regarding the significant association between obesity and chronic diarrhea. These findings offer a novel perspective on gastrointestinal health management.Copyright © 2024 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.

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