Abdominal Pain: A Comparison between Neurogenic Bowel Dysfunction and Chronic Idiopathic Constipation

Table 1

Patient characteristics.

	Spinal cord injury	Chronic idiopathic constipation	P value
Number	21	15
Gender (female/male)	9/12	13/2	0.014
Age, years, mean (SD)	45.2 (14.2)	32.3 (11.7)	0.007
Abdominal pain or discomfort^a, n (%)	17 (81.0)	14 (93.3)	0.38
Neurological level^b
Cervical, n (AIS^b, n)	4 (A 3, C 1)
Thoracic (Th3-10), n (AIS^b, n)	10 (A 7, C 3)
Lumbar, n (AIS^b, n)	7 (A 1, C 5, D 1)
Completeness
Complete, n	11
Incomplete, n	10
Abnormal control^c
Blood pressure	5*
Heart rate	5*
Sweating	5*
Normal control^c
Temperature	21
Bronchopulmonary system	21

 ^aWithin the last month.
^bInternational standards for the classification of spinal cord injury.
^cThe autonomic standard assessment form.
*All with high, complete SCI.