If you Google the terms “constipation” and “heart attack” it’s not long before the name Elvis Presley crops up. Elvis had a longstanding history of chronic constipation and it’s believed he was straining very hard to poo, which then led to a fatal heart attack. We don’t know what really happened to the so-called King of Rock “n” Roll back in 1977.
There were likely several contributing factors to his death, and this theory is one of many. But after this famous case researchers took a strong interest in the link between constipation and the risk of a heart attack. This includes a recent study led by Australian researchers involving data from thousands of people.
Are constipation and heart attacks linked? Large population studies show constipation is linked to an increased risk of heart attacks. For example, an Australian study involved more than 540,000 people over 60 in hospital for a range of conditions. It found constipated patients had a higher risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes compared to non-constipated patients of the same age.
A Danish study of more than 900,000 people from hospitals and hospital outpatient clinics also found that people who were constipated had an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. It was unclear, however, if this relationship between constipation and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes would hold true for healthy people outside hospital. These Australian and Danish studies also did not facto.