Manning A P, Wyman J B, Heaton K W
Br Med J. 1976 Jul 24;2(6029):213-4. doi: 10.1136/bmj.2.6029.213.
One hundred and fifty hospital outpatients were questioned about their bowel habits and then asked to record these in diary booklets for two weeks. Overall, recalled and recorded figures for frequency of defecation agreed fairly closely, but in 16% of patients there was a discrepancy of three or more bowel actions per week. This was usually an exaggeration of the difference from the norm of one a day. Patients were bad at predicting episodes of changed bowel frequency. These findings cast doubt on the value of population surveys of bowel habit based solely on questionnaires. They also suggest that the irritable bowel syndrome might be correctly diagnosed more often if patients were routinely asked to record their bowel actions.
对150名门诊病人询问了他们的排便习惯，然后让他们在日记手册中记录两周的排便情况。总体而言，回忆的和记录的排便频率数据相当接近，但16%的患者每周排便次数差异达三次或更多。这通常是对与每天一次的正常排便次数差异的夸大。患者在预测排便频率变化方面表现不佳。这些发现使人怀疑仅基于问卷调查的人群排便习惯调查的价值。它们还表明，如果常规要求患者记录排便情况，肠易激综合征可能会更常被正确诊断。
