Status and related factors of chronic functional constipation in community elders

Abstract

Objective To investigate the status and related factors of chronic functional constipation in community elders. Methods Totally 892 elders of 11 communities at Lucheng district of Wenzhou from August 2013 to December 2015 were investigated by sample survey; methods as household survey, survey in community public health station and outpatient survey, etc. were used to develop a unified questionnaire to collect information. The chronic functional constipation was evaluated by Rome III diagnostic criteria, and statistical processing was analyzed by single-factor analysis and multi-factor logistic regression analysis. Results Totally 257 elders acquired functional constipation, and the morbidity was 28.81%, and bowel movements were less than 3 times per week. Defecation laborious and poor stool were the main symptoms of functional constipation in elders. Independent risk factors of functional constipation in community elderly patients were: too much meat intake, few vegetables and fruit intake, drinking little water, few daily activities and depression (P<0.05). Conclusions Eating habits of partial fine diet fatness, little fiber and water intake, little exercise etc. and depression are closely related to chronic functional constipation in community elderly patients. Key words: Constipation; Elders; Risk factors; Investigation