title: Effect of age on bowel management in traumatic central cord syndrome.
abstract: METHODS
  A retrospective multicenter study.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the characteristics of bowel dysfunction in elderly people with traumatic central cord syndrome (TCCS).
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 28 Rosai hospitals in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Rosai Hospital registry included 3006 persons with spinal cord injury during 1997-2007. The study subjects were 186 patients with TCCS (160 men, 26 women; mean age, 61.7±11.6 years, ±s.d.). Patients were divided according to age into the young group (<50 years, n=30), the middle-age group (50-69 years, n=112) and the elderly group (≥70 years, n=44). We assessed the differences in bowel management techniques (spontaneous, rectal medications and manual emptying) and activity of daily living (ADL) with respect to bowel care at discharge among the three groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Continent spontaneous defecation was the most common bowel management method (50%, 93/186). The percentage of elderly subjects on continent spontaneous defecation (36.4%) was significantly less than that of the young group (66.7%; P<0.05). Furthermore, the percentage of elderly patients who required no bowel care (18.2%) was significantly less than those of the young (53.3%) and middle-age groups (41.1%; P<0.01). However, few differences in bowel care-related ADL were recognized among the three groups in patients who required manual emptying.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results identified significantly fewer patients aged ≥70 years with 'continent spontaneous defecation' or 'independent for bowel care' compared with younger patients. The results also highlighted the clinical importance of bowel dysfunction associated with TCCS especially in elderly people.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Kibikogen Rehabilitation Center for Employment Injuries, Kaga-gun, Okayama, Japan. furusawa@kibirihaH.rofuku.go.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Furusawa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tokuhiro
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tajima
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tominaga
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kajino
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawazu
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sumida
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003672:Defecation / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055496:Neurogenic Bowel / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000639:trends; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome