The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal constipation and its association with sociodemographic and health-related factors in 605 adult women of metropolitan Florianópolis/SC who underwent screening tests for cervical cancer. This is a cross-sectional study in which intestinal constipation was evaluated by Rome III criteria. We used Poisson regression considering p <0.05.
Results:
The prevalence of intestinal constipation according to Rome III was 25.1%. Approximately 80% of women with constipation reported that the problem caused medium/high interference in their lives. In univariate analysis, constipation was associated with: income per capita lower than 1 minimum wage, a poor health state, body dissatisfaction, physical activity during personal commuting and self-report of hemorrhoids. In multivariate analysis and following a hierarchical model, the association persisted only for self-report of hemorrhoids (PR = 4.45, CI = 3.49-5.68). Coping strategies for intestinal constipation in the health care of women are suggested.
Intestinal constipation; Quality of life; Body image; Physical activitya