Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Multicenter Study
. 2003 Dec;91(6):815-9.
doi: 10.1093/bja/aeg275.

Constipation and its implications in the critically ill patient

S M Mostafa  1 , S Bhandari, G Ritchie, N Gratton, R Wenstone
Affiliations
Free article
Multicenter Study

Constipation and its implications in the critically ill patient

S M Mostafa et al. Br J Anaesth. 2003 Dec.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Motility of the lower gut has been little studied in intensive care patients.

Method: We prospectively studied constipation in an intensive care unit of a university hospital, and conducted a national survey to assess the generalizability of our findings.

Results: Constipation occurred in 83% of the patients. More constipated patients (42.5%) failed to wean from mechanical ventilation than non-constipated patients (0%), P<0.05. The median length of stay in intensive care and the proportion of patients who failed to feed enterally were greater in constipated than non-constipated patients (10 vs 6.5 days and 27.5 vs 12.5%, respectively (NS)). The survey found similar observations in other units. Delays in weaning from mechanical ventilation and enteral feeding were reported by 28 and 48% of the units surveyed, respectively.

Conclusions: Constipation has implications for the critically ill.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

MeSH terms