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Chronic diarrhoea

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Chronic diarrhoea is defined as diarrhoea lasting for more than 4 weeks

  • a 4-week cut-off for a diagnosis of chronic diarrhea has been used in studies done in industrialized countries
  • prevalence of chronic diarrhoea varies with the population surveyed and the inconsistency in the definition of chronic diarrhea,
    • if based on the criterion of excessive stool frequency (>3 times/day) or loose stools (more than 25% of the time), the prevalence of chronic diarrhea in the USA varies from 14 to 18%
    • if based on increased stool frequency alone the prevalence is approximately 5% (1)

Diagnosing chronic diarrhoea is a considerable challenge with several hundred conditions in the differential diagnosis.

Reference:

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