Quality of life in 1870 patients with constipation and/or fecal incontinence: Constipation should not be underestimated

Quality of life is increasingly seen as important, but remains difficult to assess in patients with functional anorectal complaints. We aimed to quantify quality of life and to analyse the symptomatic descriptors associated with a poor outcome in patients with faecal incontinence (FI) and/or constipation. The characteristics of the patients, data from self-administered questionnaires and from physical examinations were evaluated prospectively for all cases of functional anorectal disease over a period of thirteen years. Functional anorectal disease included faecal incontinence (FI) and/or constipation. Patients with scores in the lowest quartile of the Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI) were considered to have suffered severe alterations to their quality of life, and were compared with the other patients. In total, 1870 patients with functional anorectal disease were included (470 with a severely altered quality of life (GIQLI