The Relationship between Fecal Kinetics and Body Temperature in Elderly People

The relationship between fecal kinetics and body temperature was examined in elderly people. The subjects consisted of 34 hospitalized patients over 65 years of age (11 males aged 66-82 years, with a mean age of 70.3 years; and 23 females aged 65-84 years, with a mean age of 72.1 years). Then mean age of all subjects was 71.5 years. The subjects were divided into two groups: the non-constipation (NCP) group (patients who had been evacuating at least once daily) and the constipation (CP) group (patients who had not evacuated for 3 days or more). In the CP group, we analyzed the lowest and highest body temperature during two consecutive days (the day of evacuation and the previous day) and the lowest body temperature during another two days (the day of evacuation and the following day). In the NCP group, 3 consecutive days were selected at random for analyzing the lowest body temperature on the first day, the highest body temperature on the second day and the lowest body temperature on the third day. In the CP group, the body temperature before evacuation was 37.3°C or more in 6 of the 28 patients (21.4%). In the NCP group, the highest body temperature before evacuation averaged 36.39°C and the lowest body temperature after evacuation averaged 36.0°C, with a temperature difference of 0.39°C between the pre-and post-evacuation periods. In the CP group, the highest body temperature before evacuation was 37.03°C and the lowest body temperature after evacuation was 36.1°C, with a temperature difference of 0.93°C between the pre-and post-evacuation periods. Thus, the magnitude of temperature change between the pre-and post-evacuation periods was 0.54°C greater in the CP group than in the NCP group (p