In a survey of residents of Old People's Homes in the London Borough of Harrow, 16 per cent of men and 17 per cent of women were found to be faecally incontinent. Of these 92 per cent of the men and 73 percent of the women were doubly incontinent. Residents who were faecally incontinent were more likely to use wheelchairs and were more likely to be demented than those who were continent. Management of patients with faecal incontinence varied from home to home but in all it was a considerable burden for care staff for whom faecal incontinence usually appeared to be an intractable and insoluble problem.
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Thomas et al. (1987) studied this question.