Prevalence of intestinal constipation in medical students of a private institution in the state of Tocantins, Brazil
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Abstract
Objectives: To analyze the prevalence and characteristics of intestinal constipation (IC) in medical students from a private institution in the State of Tocantins, Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional and quantitative study, with the application of a questionnaire to medical students from the 1st, 3rd, and sixth periods. General and specific data were collected from August to September 2018 to characterize the IC, followed by descriptive statistics. Results: Most of the 142 interviewees were from the 1st semester of the course (n = 73; 51.4%), were up to 28 years old (n = 133; 94%) and were women (n = 90; 63.4%). Most ate their meals at home (n = 106; 74.6%), and 84 (59.1%) ate four or more meals a day. The majority (n = 54, 38%) used green leaves and fruits once or twice a day. The presence of self-reported IC occurred in 22 students (15.5%), while the functional IC, characterized as an effort to evacuate or hardened stools, in 38 (26.7%). The minority (n = 27; 19%) reported an evacuation frequency up to three times a week. In addition to the effort to evacuate and hardened stools, the most prevalent symptom was the sensation of incomplete evacuation (n = 32; 22.5%). Conclusion: Intestinal constipation presents itself as an uncommon condition among students of the analyzed medical course. Evacuation efforts and hardened stools were the most common findings.
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