Analysis of correlation between defecation posture and risk of urinary tract infections among adolescent populations

Abstract

Objective: To assess the correlation between defecation posture and risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) rates among a representative adolescent sample in Malaysia Methods: The study was conducted between February 2015 and September 2015 using Google forms. A total of 568 enrolled and 551 participated in the study. The online questionnaire was divided into three sections viz., informed consent info; demographic details; knowledge and attitude analysis. The form was circulated online to obtain the responses. Results: The mean age of study participants was 23.99 ΁ 6.04 years. Majority of the study population used western type of toilet and felt comfortable with it. In the public context (movie halls, shopping malls etc.), most of the study participants preferred to use Indian/squatting type of toilet to avoid bodily contact with the toilet bowl. The study population was Malaysian. The respondents normally defecated at least once a day and normally took <10 min to defecate. About 38.8% of the respondents who were having sharing accommodation were not sure about the frequency of toilet cleaning. Totally, 10.7% of the study participants had previous history of UTIs, with the average duration of infection being around 5 days to 3 weeks. Conclusion: Defecation is an important physiological event and many of the study participants required more education on normal physiological methods of defecation postures. Appropriate education is required to improve the personal health and reducing the risk of acquiring UTIs.

Keywords

• Sitting
• squatting
• toilet posture
• urinary tract infections