Bowel Habits of Urban and Rural Populations on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria

Background: Constipation and diarrhoea are frequent complaints amongst patients attending Gastroenterology Clinics. The normal bowel habits may vary among populations. Objective: To characterise and compare the bowel habits of rural and urban dwellers in a Nigerian population. Methods: Questionnaires were administered to 1236 adults aged 16 years and above recruited from two communities (rural and urban) using a two stage cluster sampling scheme based on existing administrative set up in a cross-sectional study. Information sought included socio-demographics, alcohol consumption, bowel habits and level of physical activity. Results: Adequate data for analysis were available in 1017 subjects giving a response rate of 509(93.1%) and 508(87.7%) for rural and urban populations respectively. The mean weekly bowel frequencies for the rural and urban populations were 10.8 ± 5.1 and 9.7 ± 4.9 (p=0.09) respectively. Four hundred and ninety-four (97%) subjects from the rural community and 493 (97%) from the urban opened their bowels between three times per day to three times per week. Constipation as identified by the passage of three or less motions per week was present in 14 (2.8%) of urban dwellers compared to 4 (0.8%) of the rural (p = 0.01). Bowel motions were more frequent in males than in females. Conclusion: Bowel opening appears slightly more frequent among rural plateaus inhabitants than in urban dwellers. Constipation is more common in the urban than in the rural area.