Accuracy of patient-reported bowel symptoms for fecal incontinence: Historical recall versus prospective evaluation.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Fecal incontinence (FI) is characterized by both irregular and unpredictable bowel symptoms. An accurate history of symptoms is important for diagnosis and guiding management. Whether a patient's history of bowel symptoms is reliable or if there is recall bias is unknown.

Aim

To evaluate the accuracy of FI symptoms based on patient's recall compared with a prospective stool diary.

Methods

FI (Rome IV) patients completed a bowel questionnaire that included leakage episodes and stool consistency. Subsequently they completed a one-week FI stool diary. Agreement and correlation between historical recall and stool diary were compared.

Results

One hundred patients participated. On average they reported 12 bowel movements (BMs) and five FI episodes per we

SUBMITTER: Hudgi A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10842103 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature