Quality of Life in Pregnant Women with and without Constipation: A Comparative Study

Aim : Constipation causes various ill-effects on daily life. Several constipation complications during pre gnancy do not pose a serious threat to the mother and fetus, but the quality of life of the affected pregnant woman may deteriorate. This study aimed to compare the life qualities of p regnant women with and without constipation. Methods: The study comprised pregnant women visiting the Obstetrics an d Pediatrics Hospital. Data collection was performe d using the data collection form, Rome III criteria, and Qualit y of Life (SF-36) scales by random sampling method an face-toface interview with 642 pregnant women; of these, 3 21 were with constipation and 321 without. The homo geneity of the descriptive characteristics of the study groups wa assessed by Pearson chi-square test for catego rical variables, ttest for independent variables in the numerical var iables and Mann–Whitney’s U-test (n < 30). The chisquare analysis was performed in parts and used for further analysi s. The t-test was used for the comparison of SF-36 Quality of Life Scale sub-dimension averages, in independent groups . Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the pregnant women with and without consti pation, their levels of education, family income levels, ge neral lifestyles. The difference between the women with and without constipation in terms of sub-dimensions of SF-36, w hich were physical function (45.40±20.86), physical role strength (21.34±31.32), pain (42.9±18.27), energy/vitality ( 22.80±13.82), social functioning (51.25±19.77), emo tional role strength (l8.17±30.93), mental health (51.29±16.17) , and general health perception (44.96±15.45) were highly significant. Moreover, constipation affected the qu ality of life of the pregnant women in all three tr imesters of pregnancy Conclusion: Thus, the health behaviors aiming to cope with co nstipation must be provided to pregnant women.