Objective:

Describe the defecation pattern profile of patients hospitalized at Orthogeriatrics Unit of a tertiary Trauma Center, to evaluate defecation satisfaction during hospitalization and potential reasons for dissatisfaction.

Methods:

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 200 patients (> 65 years old) admitted to the Orthogeriatrics Unit of Hospital Vall d'Hebron.

Evaluated variables incloude:

sociodemographic date (age and sex), polypharmacy (>5 drugs), fiber intake, laxatives use before and during hospitalization, water intake, morphine intake during hospitalization, early mobilization, chronic constipation (Rome III scale), satisfaction of the evacuation pattern at home and during hospitalization, symptoms and trigger factors of their potential dissatisfaction.

Results:

Most of the patients were female (77%) with a mean (23%) age of 83.92 years. Among the enrolled patients, (63%) take more than (>5 drugs), 57.5% use opioid and 52.5% reported self-prescribed laxatives use 65% were dissatisfied with their evacuation pattern during admission compared to the previous one (38%). According to Rome III criteria, 25% suffer from chronic constipation. The most reported symptom was the excessive straining (60%) and the trigger factor for dissatisfaction was the delayed response to the call of sanitary teams (43.84%). We obtained eight factors that explain up to 61.25% of the total variance.

Conclusion:

Due to the high rate of dissatisfaction reported by patients while, we believe it is necessary to carry out further research on new tools that improve constipation diagnosis, including specific criteria. Moreover, we recommend the implementation of an action algorithm could diminish the variability of therapeutic approaches in our clinical practice.

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