Fecal Incontinence - Research Proposal Example

In their study of 2006, Damon and associates further discovered that fecal incontinence affects about 5.5 to 17 million adults who are aged over sixty years. Additionally, they demonstrated that the prevalence of fecal incontinence tends to be higher in women at younger ages even though the prevalence rates seem to be similar between both sexes as they advance in age.Abrams et al (2002) reported in their study that both urinary incontinence and fecal incontinence only coexisted in extreme cases.

This was particularly common in frail older adults in care centers where over 48% reported having difficulty controlling their bladder or bowel (Abrams et al). Apart from the health and social implications of incontinence problems, studies have illustrated fecal incontinence as an expensive and potentially dangerous pathologic condition to the affected. Stress by Bliss et al (2004) has been particularly laid in the area of the consequences associated with contamination, infection and the inherent risk of skin ulceration to the patients who have been bedridden for the long term.

Although available study findings indicate that the prevalence of fecal incontinence in the general population is rare, findings of this study are deemed critical in helping to identify ways of improving the management of the problem under study. Observations by Coyne et al (2003) demonstrate a very low prevalence of fecal incontinence among younger age groups approximated to be between 0.7% and 0.9%. In cases where prevalence estimates have been found to be as high as 8.2%, distracters have argued that the sample sizes have not been large enough to draw such firm conclusions regarding occurrence rates (Coyne et al).

But all in all, Nelson (2004) observes that fecal incontinence has been related to advancing age where institutionalized octogenarians are at the greatest risk.