Incidence of constipation in an intensive care unit

Abstract

ObjectivesTo evaluate the incidence of constipation in critical patients on enteral nutrition in a hospital intensive care unit and to correlate this incidence with the variables found for critical patients. MethodsThe present investigation was a retrospective analytical study conducted in the intensive care unit of Hospital Regional da Asa Norte (DF) via the analysis of medical records of patients admitted during the period from January to December 2011. Data on the incidence of constipation and enteral nutritional support, gastrointestinal changes, stool frequency, ventilatory support, and outcomes were collected and analyzed. ResultsThe initial sample consisted of 127 patients admitted to the unit during the period from January to December 2011. Eighty-four patients were excluded, and the final sample consisted of 43 patients. The incidence of constipation, defined as no bowel movement during the first 4 days of hospitalization, was 72% (n=31). The patients were divided into a control group and a constipated group. The group of constipated patients reached the caloric target, on average, at 6.5 days, and the control group reached the caloric target in 5.6 days (p=0.51). Constipation was not associated with the length of hospital stay, suspension of nutritional support, or outcome of hospitalization. There was an association between evacuation during hospitalization and a longer duration of hospitalization for a subgroup of patients who did not evacuate during the entire period (p=0.009). ConclusionThe incidence of constipation in the unit studied was 72%. Only the absence of evacuation during hospitalization was associated with longer hospital stays. Constipation was not associated with the length of hospital stay, suspension of nutritional support, or outcome of hospitalization.

Constipation Occurrence among Critically Ill patients

“…Moreover, Nassar et al (1) stated that constipation is occurred in the majority of their studied patients with no significance in terms of age, sex and admission diagnosis. Similarly, Mostafa et al (14) Spodniewska et al (12) and Guerra et al (15) have reported that the most of their studied patients were constipated. On the other hand, these findings were unsupported by Meinds et al"s (16) findings who found that the constipation occurred commonly in the younger age groups with both sex.…”

“…In the same line, Webster, (23) and Fennessy et al (24) concluded that early enteral feeding was beneficial for critically ill patients with low motility. Also, Guerra et al (15) reported a higher constipation rate within patients who had received nutritional support within 72 hours of admission. Webster et al (23) and Bharucha et al (2) stated that constipation was associated with low or lack of dietary fiber intake or due to reduction of gastrointestinal tract motility in critically ill patients.…”

“…On the same view, other studies as Nassar et al (1) stated that constipation was associated with difficult weaning from mechanical ventilator. Additionally, Guerra et al (15) who conducted an observational study in a Brazilian Public ICU. They found a higher constipation rate among the mechanically ventilated patients.…”

Frequency of Disturbed Defecation Pattern in Neurosurgical Critically Ill Patients and Influence on Intracranial Pressure and Intensive Care Treatment

“…In literature the incidence of constipation varies from 16% to 84% in critically ill patients [8][9][10][12][13][14][15]. Main reasons for this variance might be the inhomogeneity of the study populations and the lack of a general definition of regular bowel movement.…”

Effect of Compound Fruit and Vegetable Tablet on Relieving Constipation and Defecating Feces Excretion in Mice

“…Incidence of constipation has increased continuously as people change their diet and suffer from psychological and social disturbance, which greatly affects the lives of a large number of office workers and the aged. Constipated people are prone to have intestinal flora disorder and long-term constipation is closely associated with acute cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, dementia and colorectal cancer [1][2][3][4]. Recent studies have shown that constipation treatments have not received adequate research and development over the last ten years as they presented a series of problems in clinical research and application, such as inexact curative effect, weak specificity, multiple side effects and limited therapeutic range [5].…”