A survey of bowel continence in people with Ulcerative Colitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Faecal incontinece in ulcerative colitis: a cross-sectional survey
IRAS ID
247861
Contact name
Jimmy K. Limdi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 8 days
Research summary
Control of bowel movements (continence) is often taken for granted. However, nearly three out of every four people affected by Ulcerative colitis have difficulty with continence and report regular 'accidents' or being 'caught short'. These symptoms, otherwise known as bowel incontinence can cause social embarrassment and a reduced quality of life. Even with the better medicines currently available for ulcerative colitis, many patients continue to suffer symptoms related to incontinence and are often too embarrassed to even tell their doctor.
At present, due to a lack of research in this area, we do not know how many people are affected by these symptoms even when active bowel inflammation is controlled. This remains an underreported, under-diagnosed and consequently, an undertreated problem.This study aims to obtain a better understanding of the problem by finding out how many people with ulcerative colitis suffer from bowel incontinence. This will also be the first study to find out how many people have problems with bowel incontinence without evidence of active bowel inflammation.
We hope that what we learn from our findings will enable further research to develop better treatments and improve our understanding of how it affects the quality of our patients’ lives.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/EM/0250
Date of REC Opinion
11 Sep 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion