Functional Diarrhoea in a Nigerian Community: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Associated Quality of Life

Introduction: Diarrhoea, in general, is well investigated but the epidemiology of Functional Diarrhoea (FDr) as a disease entity has not been adequately evaluated globally, and more especially, in the sub-Saharan African population. Aim: To determine the prevalence and risk factors of FDr, and the associated quality of life in a Nigerian community. Materials and Methods: The study was a community-based cross-sectional survey involving 515 consenting adults aged 18-70 years. Data collection was done from February to March 2019. Ten participants were excluded because of inappropriately filled questionnaires, thus leaving a total of 505 subjects. The research instrument contained sociodemographic information, the Rome IV Functional Bowel Disorder questionnaire, the Short Form 12, version 2 Health Survey (SF-12v2) questionnaire, the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Early Trauma Inventory-Self Report. Respondents who were positive for FDr were the cases while those who had no FDr were the controls in the data analysis. Independent Student t-test was used to compare means. The odds ratios of prospective risk factors of FDr were calculated with logistic regression. Odds Ratios (OR) >1 and p-value ≤0.05 were considered significant. Results: The mean age of the participants was 32.7±12.9 years. Six participants {1.2% (95% CI, 0.4%-2.4%)} had FDr with a 1:2 Male/Female ratio. Functional diarrhoea had a statistically significant association with depression (18.0±12.8 vs 8.2±9.5, p-value=0.021) only among the possible risk factors considered. The mean SF-12v2 scale scores, except Vitality, were lower in subjects with FDr than the controls, though only Social Functioning was statistically significant (p-value=0.003). Conclusion: The prevalence of FDr is low in the present study population. The disease is associated with depression and it impacts the Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) negatively.