A survey of prevalence of constipation and its associated factors in postmenopausal Women referred to health centers of Roudan -2015

Physical and mental physiological changes associated with menopause is affected all the female body systems including the gastrointestinal tract that In fact, one of digestive disorders are constipation which in severe cases quality of life reduced. So this study was performed with the aim to determine constipation and its associated factors in postmenopausal Women in Roudan.
Present study was cross sectional study. 450 postmenopausal subjects aging 46 to 65 years that referred to selected health centers in Roudan, were selected by convenience sampling in 2016. The data collection tools included a standard questionnaire based on the Rome III criteria by interviewing. The statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (version 16.0) software and data were analyzed using the dependent t-test‚ Chi-square tests and logistic regression.
The average age of participants was 56.88±4.74 years. The prevalence of constipation based on the Rome III criteria was 33.7% (168 individuals). There was a significant statistical relationship between constipation and the variables of education level, occupational status, marital status, economic situation, number of pregnancies, number of natural childbirths, history of pelvic floor surgery, daily sports activities, number of fruits and vegetables servings, number of milk and dairy products servings, and amount of sleep per day (by hour) (P The prevalence of constipation in postmenopausal women is relatively high. Due to the increasing population of postmenopausal women and since constipation can significantly affect their quality of life. it is recommended that in aged care programs, more attention is paid to intestinal disorders (especially constipation).