抄録
A survey of the status of bowel movement (hereinafter, B. M.) was made on 131 pregnant womenat 4-10 months of gestation in terms of the number of days with B. M. and the frequency of B. M. during a given two-week period by the month of gestation (Hereinafter, Month).
For recording the number of days with B. M. and the frequency of B. M., a supplement to the Mother and Baby Pocket Book was handed to each of the pregnant women, who was then instructed to do a daily record. Both the number of days with B. M. and the frequency of B. M. were least at 4 th Month, gradually increased at5th-6th Month, remained unchanged at 7 th, 8 th and 9 th Month, and again slightly increased at 10 th Month. The number of days with B. M. and the frequency of B. M. were tested for the difference in mean population between each Month, it revealed that if the survey period did not exceed two months, it is not neccessary to consider the errors derived from the differences in physiological alterations between the values at the beginning and at the end of the survey.
The mean number of days with B. M.was 11.25±2.88 in all pregnant women and the percentage of women with less than 11 days with B. M. was 46.6%. As for the meanfrequencyofB.M., it was 13.15±4.54 in all and the percentage of women with frequency of B. M. less than 13 was 48.9%. Thus, both percentages are neary the same. From these findings, it was proposed that constipation was said to have occurred when the number of days with B. M. was less than 11 days during a given 14-day period.
The incidences of constipation by the Month were 70% at 4 th Month, 40.7% at 5th Month, 27.8% at 6th Month, 35.7-50% at 7th, 8th and 9th Month, and 26.8% at 10 th Month.
The time course of the number of days with B. M. and of the frequency of B. M. with the Month in pregnancy would be expressed by cubic curve. If the Month was given as x, the following regression equation was applicable: Number of days with B.M.=-20.7153+14.1778x-2.0169x2+0.0932x3
Frequency of B.M.=-29.1467+18.8520x-2.7142x2+0.1275x3 (x: 4-10)
