In this survey, 17,812 US community-dwelling persons were asked about gastrointestinal symptoms with the aim of determining the prevalence of fecal incontinence (FI) and associated risk factors.
Fecal incontinence is a debilitating and distressful condition, with negative impact on social activities, economy and quality of life. True prevalence numbers vary significantly and are difficult to obtain due to under-reporting and the use of different definitions. Because of the taboo around fecal incontinence, many patients do not volunteer information about their bowel problems to health care providers. Moreover, many health care providers do not ask patients who are at risk about this.