title: The effect of eating lunch before an afternoon colonoscopy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Traditionally, patients fast from midnight the night before to just prior to the colonoscopy. Many patients find it extremely inconvenient to have to fast for a full day. We sought to compare: a group in which diet was restricted and a group in which diet was not restricted.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who attended inpatient clinics of Hanyang University Hospital who were scheduled to undergo colonoscopy were considered eligible to participate in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned to either eat lunch before colonoscopy or to fast before the colonoscopy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences between the study groups with respect to age, gender distribution, previous abdominal surgery, or bowel movements. The two groups showed no significant differences in bowel cleanliness scores or fluid volume scores. Patients' unwillingness to undergo the same procedure in the future was 10.0% in group A compared to 33.3% in group B. With regard to the patients' opinion about lunch before colonoscopy, most of the subjects in group A answered that they would eat lunch before colonoscopy again if given the choice.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Eating lunch before afternoon colonoscopy had no negative impact on the quality of the bowel preparation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dong Hee
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Hang Lak
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Il
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Kang Nyeong
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Dae Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Jun
authors.forename: Oh Young
authors.initials: OY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chang Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Eun
authors.forename: Dong Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Yong Cheol
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Byung Chul
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Ho Soon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Joon Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hahm
authors.forename: Youhern
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged