Frequency of Voiding and Defecation Dysfunction in Primary School Children in Zahedan, Southeast Iran

Childhood voiding and defecation dysfunction are common problems in children of all ages worldwide. The prevalence of bowel and bladder dysfunction in children is reported to be approximately 47%.

Due to the different ethnic and socio-cultural characteristics, this study was conducted to investigate the frequency of voiding and defecation dysfunction in primary school children. In this study, we examined the urinary and defecation problems of patients and their relationship with each other.

This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was performed on 400 children aged 7 to 13 years in Zahedan in 2016. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS 16 version. Statistical analysis was performed using descriptive and analytical statistics of the chi-square test. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

In this study, 400 students with a mean age of 9.96 ± 2.07 were studied, of whom 188 (47.1%) were girls and 212 (52.9%) were boys. The prevalence of urinary incontinence was 56.9%, 63.7% of whom were girls, and 36.3% were boys. The difference in the prevalence of urinary incontinence between girls and boys was large and statistically significant (P = 0.04). The prevalence of fecal incontinence was 61.7% among girls and 62.4% among boys (the total prevalence was 62.4% [239 cases]), but the difference in prevalence between girls and boys was small and statistically insignificant (P = 0.83).

The prevalence of defecation dysfunction in school-age children was much higher than in previous studies. This may be due to differences in cultural and geographical environments. Due to the high prevalence of defecation dysfunction in children, it is recommended to have more focus on public education on various types of urinary and fecal dysfunction in urban and rural communities.