Bowel training in spina bifida: importance of education, patient compliance, age, and anal reflexes

Bowel incontinence is a major social impairment for 90% of patients with spina bifida. This study assess the bowel continence of children and young adults with spina bifida before and after a toileting intervention that emphasized patient/family education and a regular, consistently timed, reflex-triggered bowel evacuation. Bowel continence defined as one or fewer incontinent stools per month, rose from 13% (5/40) to 60% (24/40) following intervention. Twenty-four of the 35 initially incontinent patients were compliant. Seventy-nine percent (19/24) of the compliant subjects achieved continence whereas 0/11 of the noncompliant subjects achieved continence p < 0.0001). Presence of the bulbocavernosus (BC) and anocutaneous (AC) reflexes correlated significantly with achieving continence (either vs none p < .02, AC vs no AC p < .01). Instituting bowel training before age 7 correlated with improved outcomes by means of better compliance. Excluding noncompliant subjects, 83% (24/29) of the original sample of 40 patients satisfied our strict definition of bowel continence after this simple low technology intervention.