Defaecation disorders among information technology personnel: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Individuals working in the information technology (IT) industry are likely to develop lifestyle disorders. We aimed to determine the presence of defaecation-related disorders in IT personnel in Chennai. METHODS This cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was done from June to December 2018. We included employees between 18 and 60 years of age and excluded those with <1 year stay in Chennai, pregnancy and those who sent incomplete responses. The cohort was classified as normal, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), faecal evacuation disorder (FED) and a combination of the latter two. RESULTS The overall response rate was 95.6%. The study included 54.7% of men, and the median age was 31 years. The majority of respondents used an Indian toilet (554; 58%). Almost all (96.2%) passed stools daily, and stool consistency was soft in 59%. Based on the study criteria, 180 (18.8%) had FED, 56 (5.9%) had IBS and a small group had a combination of symptoms of IBS and FED (20; 2.1%). Respondents with symptoms of IBS had a higher proportion of comorbid states (p<0.0001), lesser stool frequency (p<0.0001) and required more toilet time (p<0.00001). CONCLUSION Over one-fourth (26.7%) of the respondents had defaecation-related issues, 18.8% had symptoms suggestive of FED and 5.6% that of IBS, often above 30 years of age.