PA Medical News about Fecal Incontinence Aged

Become a Member Today!
Register

Most Viewed Abstracts

1. Report Shows Shift in Starting Salaries for Physicians

2. Recommendations on the use of 18F-FDG PET in oncology

3. Use of Antiemetic Agents in Acute Gastroenteritis

4. Gene expression signatures, clinicopathological features, and individualized therapy in breast cancer

5. AHA Guidelines on Cardiac CT for Assessing Coronary Artery Disease

Your Article Summary

See Latest Articles

(Click the title below to leave the MDLinx Network and go to the Journal's Website)

Faecal incontinence in older people
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology, 11/10/09

Harari D et al. – Faecal incontinence in older people is a distressing and socially isolating symptom and increases the risk of morbidity, mortality and dependency. Many older individuals with faecal incontinence will not volunteer the problem to their general practitioner or nurse and, regrettably, health care providers do not routinely enquire about the symptom. Even when older people are noted by health care professionals to have faecal incontinence, the condition is often managed passively, especially in the long–term care setting where it is most prevalent. The importance of identifying treatable causes of faecal incontinence in older people, rather than just managing passively, is strongly emphasized in national and international guidance, but audit shows that adherence to such guidance is generally poor. This article describes epidemiology, causes, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of faecal incontinence in older people.