Frequency of Defecation and Form of Stool among General Bangladeshi Population

Data on stool form and defecation frequency which are a prerequisite for defining normal bowel habit are lacking in Bangladesh. This observational cross sectional study was designed to find out defecation frequency and stool form among general population in Bangladesh. This study was performed in the Department of Gastroenterology, Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from July 2017 to June 2018. Apparently healthy 1090 respondents were evaluated for predominant stool form (Bristol chart) and frequency. Data on demographic and life-style were collected. The study population consisted of 1090 respondents, among them, 65.13% male and 34.87% female and mean age of them was 40.20±12.39 years. Most of the people 874(80.2%) passed stool between 12-14 times per week followed by 111(10.2%) less than 3 stools per week, 95(8.7%) passed more than 14 stools per week and 10(0.9%) between 3-12 stools per week, p<0.001. Most people passed predominantly Bristol type IV stool- 610(56.0%); followed by type III- 274(25.1%). Other stool forms were: type I- 52(4.8%), type II- 59(5.4%), type V- 31(2.8%), type VI- 33(3.0%), type VII- 31(2.8%), p<0.001. In regard to the physical activity, most of the respondents (70.0%) are physically active whereas about 13.0% are sedentary and about 17.0% are physically intermediate between the two, p<0.001. In the case of dietary habit, most of the participants are non-vegetarian (82.5%) and the remaining are vegetarian (11.1%) and occasional non vegetarian (6.4%), p<0.001. Median stool frequency in the studied population was 14 per week and predominant form was Bristol type IV. Older age was associated with lesser stool frequency, particularly among female subjects.