الفهرس 
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Abstract
Constipation is a common gastrointestinal disease affecting all age groups, elderly individuals suffer particularly more than younger individuals, among which females have higher prevalence than males
The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence and the risk factors of constipation among elderly attending Hai Tany Family Health Center, Damietta District, Damietta Governorate.
The study was a case-control nested in cross-sectional study.The study was conducted in the context of time frame of 21 months (starting on the1st of November 2015, till end of July 2017)
The study was conducted in the selected Family Health Center, which randomly selected from five Family Health Centers in Damietta district.
The studied group were the elderly (aged 60 years and above) attending the selected family health center during the period of the study. Uncooperative elderly, Elderly with terminal illness i.e. malignancy and those who not living in Damietta District were excluded.
The sample size was 196 and it was increased to 258 to overcome the DROP out and the adherence to the study. The required sample was fulfilled during the period from January 2016 to May 2016.
All elderly who participated in the study were evaluated using a predesigned questionnaire which consist of five sections:
First section included sociodemographic data as per Fahmy et al., (2014), Second section included Diagnosis of constipation using Bristol stool scale and ROME III diagnostic criteria, Exclusion of alarm symptoms (recent onset of constipation, bleeding per rectum,
weight loss, anemia) and Past medical history (Diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hepatitis, cardiac diseases, polypharmacy and dental loss), Third section for assessment of nutrition status as a risk factor for constipation by using MNA (mini-nutritional assessment), Fourth section for assessment of cognitive function by using MMSE (mini-mental state examination), Fifth section for Assessment of function of daily living.
The result of our study revealed that:
•The frequency of constipation among the studied elderly participants was (24.8%) (Figure 1) and increased with increasing age (p value <0.001) (OR: 20.9) (Table3) and there was insignificant difference between male and female, urban and rural areas (Table3)
•There was statistical significance relation between constipation and malnutrition where the percentage of constipation was significantly lower among elderly patients who ate fruits and vegetables (p value <0.001) and those who drunk more than five cups of fluids per day (p value 0.002) (78.5% and 83%) respectively (Table 4).
•Most of the studied elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment experienced constipation (72.7%), p value (0.001); OR (CI) 9.1 (2.3-35.4) (Table 5).
•There was no significant statistical difference among the studied elderly patients as regarding constipating drugs use p value (0.981), presence of comorbidities p value (0.069) and dental loss p value (0.725)(Table 6) and also as regarding parameters of ADL & IADL p value >0.05(Table 7&8)