Copepod community succession during warm season in Lagoon Notoro-ko, northeastern Hokkaido, Japan

eS908

WCPT Congress 2015 / Physiotherapy 2015; Volume 101, Supplement 1 eS833–eS1237

women, asymptomatic hypermobile women and women with normal mobility. Keywords: Beighton score; Principal component analysis; Generalized joint hypermobility Funding acknowledgements: The project was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, with the grant number # 13DPD6 127285. Ethics approval: This study was approved by the local research Ethics Committee of Canton Bern, Switzerland (Number 229/2008). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2015.03.1746 Research Report Platform Rapid 5 Presentation Number: RR-PLR5-1553 Monday 4 May 2015 15:45 Room 324–326 THE PREVALENCE OF BLADDER AND BOWEL SYMPTOMS EXPERIENCED BY MEN AND WOMEN SEEKING TREATMENT FOR GENERAL CHRONIC PAIN C. Ludwik 1 , T. Mills 2 , H. Frawley 3,4 1 Bendigo Health, Bendigo, Australia; 2 Bendigo Health, Collaborative Health Education and Research Centre, Bendigo, Australia; 3 La Trobe University, Department of Physiotherapy, Melbourne, Australia; 4 Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Australia

Background: The association between bladder or bowel symptoms and general musculo-skeletal pain, especially low back pain conditions, has been previously identified, predominately in women. Few studies include men, and pain chronicity is not well defined. It is important for physiotherapists and other health professionals to be aware of the prevalence of bladder and bowel symptoms in men and women with chronic pain in order to inform screening and to provide optimal care. Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of incontinence (urinary or faecal) and constipation among patients with general chronic pain, and compare these estimates with corresponding Australian national data in community cohorts. Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional cohort study. All patients with general chronic pain attending Outpatient Rehabilitation Services at Bendigo Health over a 12 month period were invited to participate by flyers and by their treating health professionals. Participants completed an anonymous questionnaire comprising demographic information, a body pain chart, the Urogenital Distress Inventory Short Form, the Wexner score and the Bowel Function Index. A body chart identified areas affected by pain. The remaining tools identified the presence of urinary incontinence, faecal incontinence and constipation. Confidence intervals, set at 95%, were calculated for the estimated prevalence of incontinence and constipation in the

general chronic pain group and compared to published general population prevalence data. Associations between pain location and faecal incontinence, urinary incontinence and constipation were determined using the Fisher’s exact test. Results: The study population comprised 82 participants with an average age of 58 years (range 26–83). This sample of patients was representative of the population from which the sample was drawn in terms of age (z = 0.668, p = 0.25) and sex (Chi-square(1) = 0.04, p = 0.84). Low back pain +/− other body pain was reported by 80.5% of participants, the remaining 19.5% experienced pain in areas excluding the lower back. Urinary incontinence was reported by 65.8% [CI = 55.6–76.1] of participants compared with 24% [CI = 23–26] of the general Australian population. Faecal incontinence was experienced by 47.6% [CI = 36.7–53.9] of the study population, compared with 8% [CI = 7–9] of the general Australian population. Prevalence rates for incontinence were significantly higher for both men and women in this study when compared with the national estimates. Constipation was reported by 40.4% [CI = 27.6–53.1] of women in the study but this was not statistically different from the limited prevalence data existing for age-specific cohorts of Australian women. Low back pain was statistically associated with urinary incontinence (p = 0.01) and faecal incontinence (p = 0.01), but not with constipation. Conclusion(s): Patients who presented to a general chronic pain outpatient clinic had a significantly higher prevalence of urinary incontinence and faecal incontinence than has been identified in prevalence studies of the community dwelling general Australian population. There is an association between chronic low back pain and the presence of urinary and/or faecal incontinence. Implications: This study may prompt screening of men and women experiencing chronic pain to identify bladder and bowel symptoms, thereby improving their opportunity to access appropriate services. Keywords: Incontinence prevalence; Chronic pain; Low back pain Funding acknowledgements: Time allocated for this research was enabled by Bendigo Health, Australia. Ethics approval: Human Research Ethics Committee, Bendigo Health, Australia 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physio.2015.03.1747