Association between paraffin leakage and occurrence or exacerbation of urinary tract infection in children with chronic functional constipation

Given the widespread use of paraffin in the treatment of constipation in chil-dren and the possibility of long duration of drug use and the risk of drug leakage, the risk of urinary infection in these patients is considerable. The aim of this study was to determine the association between leakage of paraf-fin and the presence or exacerbation of the urinary infection and repeated attacks of urinary tract infection in children with chronic functional constipation.
In this cohort study, 80 consecutive children aged 3 to 17 with the diagnosis of chronic constipa-tion according to the Rome III criteria that received paraffin (5 to 15ml/kg/day) or polyethylene glycol (1.5grams/kg/day) treatment schedule were studied and the presence of urinary tract infection in the patients was analyzed.
There was also no difference between paraffin group and polyethylene glycol group in terms of the prevalence of urine incontinence (17.5% versus 25.0%, p=0.293) and fecal incontinence (17.5% versus 12.1%, p=0.378). In total, positive urinary culture was found in one child (2.5%) in paraffin group and in two children (5.0%) in polyethylene glycol group without significant difference (p=0.500).
The occurrence of urinary tract infection is expected in 3.75% of children with chronic func-tional constipation treated with paraffin or polyethylene glycol. The types of treatment including paraffin or polyethylene glycol do not increase the risk for urinary tract infection in these children.