title: Stroke: bowel dysfunction in patients admitted for rehabilitation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to assess the prevalence of diminished frequency of bowel movements, lumpy or hard stools, intestinal constipation, straining, incomplete evacuation, incontinence (bowel dysfunctions) in patients with brain injury resulting from cerebrovascular accident, either self-reported or reported by their caregivers; to describe the type and frequency of such dysfunctions; and the prevalence of laxative use both before and after stroke.
  
  
  METHODS
  cross-sectional study with 98 hospitalized patients admitted for rehabilitation between December 2009 and May 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the prevalence of bowel dysfunctions before stroke was 23.96% whereas after the lesion it was 55.21% (p<0.0001). As reported by patients/caregivers, the chances of developing bowel dysfunctions increase sevenfold after stroke, 95% CI (2.44-24.26). The most frequent dysfunctions before stroke were intestinal constipation (73.91%) and diminished frequency of bowel movements (17.39%). After stroke, constipation remains to be the most frequent dysfunction reported (50%), followed by diminished frequency of bowel movements (26.79%), incomplete evacuation (12.50%), and lack of privacy (5.36%). The use of laxatives was 19,15% after the lesion, but not statisticaly significant (p=0.0736).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bowel dysfunctions increases significantly after stroke. Therefore, further studies are needed to better understand and characterize such dysfunctions, which are scarcely described in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Health Sciences, Universidade de Brasília (UnB), Brazil ; Neurological rehabilitation program in the SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals, Brasília (DF), Brazil.
authors.forename: Tânia M N de M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Engler
authors.affiliation: Neurological rehabilitation program in the SARAH Network of Rehabilitation Hospitals, Brasília (DF), Brazil.
authors.forename: Cinthia C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Dourado
authors.affiliation: Secretaria de Estado de Saúde do Distrito Federal, Brasília (DF), Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Amâncio
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Brasília-UnB-Brasília (DF), Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Farage
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Brasília-UnB-Brasília (DF), Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulo A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: de Mello
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medical Sciences of Santa Casa São Paulo-São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcele P C
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Padula
keywords: Constipation; fecal incontinence; rehabilitation centers; stroke.