THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL TEMPERATURE ON THE FREQUENCY OF INTESTINAL CONSTIPATION IN PATIENTS WITH CEREBROVASCULAR ACCIDENT

Abstract

Intestinal constipation (IC) has been considered a post-Cerebral Vascular Accident (CVA) morbidity and the increase in temperature seems to influence intestinal constipation by increasing the frequency of CVA. The objective was to evaluate the relationship between stroke and IC, and the relationship between environmental temperature and stroke. This is a cross-sectional study, including individuals over 18 years of age, of both genders, who have suffered a stroke and presented pre- or post-stroke IC, investigated in a public hospital and in a private office in the city of Imperatriz-MA. An analysis of medical records of patients suffering from stroke, who have been carefully evaluated, in the hospital environment, was carried out. Surgical patients and patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage were excluded. It was found that patients from private offices and public hospitals made up a total of n=163 individuals, n=82 (50.31%) were male, with a mean age, weight and height of 61±12.24, 77.10±5.13, 1.68±0.08, respectively. Of the total number of patients evaluated, n=74 (45.4%) reported having IC prior to the stroke, a relationship between IC and the stroke was observed. The period of occurrence of cases of vascular accidents was the one with the highest average temperature, during the dry period. It was concluded, therefore, that most of the evaluated patients had post-stroke IC (85.71%), while previous constipation (42.85%) became an important risk factor, in addition to the mean environmental temperature constituting an important impact in the determination of injuries, causing their appearance.

Keywords: Cardiovascular Diseases; Cold; Environmental factors.