Fecal Incontinence – Overview

Transcript

Fecal incontinence is a common problem is defined as the lack of bowel control causing an involuntary leakage of fecal contents. It can be seen with just a small amount of leakage, or you can see complete loss of bowel control in fecal incontinence. While it’s often been stigmatized, we see fecal incontinence in about 15 to 14% of the United States population. 9.1% of women are affected by fecal incontinence and in the ages greater than 70, up to 17 to 18% of people are affected. While gastrointestinal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease can cause fecal incontinence, we also see causes such as neurologic conditions as well as diabetes result in fecal incontinence.