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The association of constipation and colonic diverticula was a wide-spread hypothesis. But there are no previous reports showing a relationship of diverticula and their location with bowel habits. Recently, Yamada et al1 suggested constipation was not associated with colonic diverticula, but on the other hand it was more prevalent in patients without diverticula than with diverticula. They evaluated the association between diverticula and bowel habits in Japanese individuals. Bowel habits and stool form were evaluated using the Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS)2 and a part of the Bristol Scale with Rome III criteria, respectively. The presence of constipation was associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of diverticula (odds ratio [OR], 0.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52?0.93), especially left-sided diverticula (OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.16?0.93). Stool form was unrelated with the presence or absence of diverticula. The authors concluded that the absence of diverticula was associated with constipation, suggesting the need to reassess the etiology of colonic diverticula.
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