Impact of faecal incontinence severity on health domains.

OBJECTIVE

Faecal incontinence is a problem that can have a major impact on the quality of life of those affected. Our aim was to relate the severity of faecal incontinence to the impact on several general health domains.

METHODS

Patients from a prospective diagnostic cohort study, performed in 16 medical centres in the Netherlands, were invited to the study. The severity of incontinence was determined with the Vaizey score, which ranges from 0 (continent) to 24 (totally incontinent). Based on their Vaizey score, patients were assigned to one of five severity categories. All patients completed the EuroQol-5D instrument, which evaluates the existence of problems on five health domains: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression.

RESULTS

Data from 259 consecutive patients (25 male) could be analysed. Their mean age was 59 years (SD +/- 12). The mean duration of faecal incontinence was 8.1 years (SD +/- 8). The proportion of patients reporting problems rose significantly with increasing severity of faecal incontinence in the domains of usual activities (ranging from 36% in the least severe group to 71% in the most severe group (P < 0.001)), pain/discomfort (ranging from 35% to 60%; P = 0.025), and anxiety/depression (ranging from 23% to 49%; P = 0.037). No significant trends could be observed in the domains of mobility and self-care.

CONCLUSION

There exists a significant relation between severity of incontinence and frequency of reported problems in the domains of usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression.