Deans' stroke musings: Association between constipation and risk of stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Changing stroke rehab and research worldwide now.Time is Brain! trillions and trillions of neurons that DIE each day because there are NO effective hyperacute therapies besides tPA(only 12% effective). I have 523 posts on hyperacute therapy, enough for researchers to spend decades proving them out. These are my personal ideas and blog on stroke rehabilitation and stroke research. Do not attempt any of these without checking with your medical provider. Unless you join me in agitating, when you need these therapies they won't be there.

What this blog is for:

My blog is not to help survivors recover, it is to have the 10 million yearly stroke survivors light fires underneath their doctors, stroke hospitals and stroke researchers to get stroke solved. 100% recovery. The stroke medical world is completely failing at that goal, they don't even have it as a goal. Shortly after getting out of the hospital and getting NO information on the process or protocols of stroke rehabilitation and recovery I started searching on the internet and found that no other survivor received useful information. This is an attempt to cover all stroke rehabilitation information that should be readily available to survivors so they can talk with informed knowledge to their medical staff. It lays out what needs to be done to get stroke survivors closer to 100% recovery. It's quite disgusting that this information is not available from every stroke association and doctors group.

Monday, August 25, 2025

Association between constipation and risk of stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Here's a vicious circle your competent? doctor has to navigate. The best solution would be 100% recovery and getting back to your daily life, but that won't occur, your doctor has been incompetent in getting research done for 100% recovery protocols.

The incidence of constipation for stroke was 48%.

Laxative use may be linked to dementia risk, study says

So, maybe marijuana?

Marijuana use linked with decreased constipation

You'll have to break thru your doctor's reluctance.

Luckily now a lot of states have legal marijuana sales.

Association between constipation and risk of stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Feng Tang¹^†

Tianjun Zhao²^†

Peiwen Dong¹

Kaidi Sun¹

Xiaobin Sun¹^*

Qiong Wang¹^*

¹Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Jiaotong University, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Chengdu, China
²Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Jiaotong University, The Third People's Hospital of Chengdu, Cardiovascular Disease Research Institute of Chengdu, Chengdu, China

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between constipation and stroke risk, with subgroup analyses exploring effects on stroke subtypes.

Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until February 2025. Published studies reporting adjusted odds ratios (ORs), hazard ratios (HRs), or relative risks (RRs) for stroke in constipated versus non-constipated individuals were included. A random-effects model was used to pool effect estimates, with heterogeneity assessed via the chi-square test based on Cochrane Q statistics. Subgroup evaluations were conducted for stroke type (ischemic/hemorrhagic), region, study design, and sex.

Results: Thirteen studies involving 684,123 constipation cases and 5,223,378 controls were analyzed. Constipation was associated with a 23% increased stroke risk (pooled OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.10–1.36, I² = 96.51%). Subgroup analyses revealed a stronger association with ischemic stroke (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.19–1.60, I² = 96.64%) but not hemorrhagic stroke (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.80–1.26, I² = 78.38%). Notably, constipation showed no stroke risk elevation in women (OR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.92–1.07, I² = 0%).

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis identified constipation as a risk factor for ischemic stroke, but not hemorrhagic stroke. These findings underscore constipation as a modifiable risk factor in ischemic stroke management, warranting further mechanistic and interventional studies.

Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO 2024; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42024615237.