Psychological disorders in enterostomal patients. The influence of age [DISTURBI PSICOLOGICI IN PAZIENTI PORTATORI DI ENTEROSTOMIA. INFLUENZA DELL'ETA]

A retrospective study of patients who had undergone enterostomy and subsequent follow-up in the past 9 years was carried out with the aim of identifying differences with relation to symptoms of depression, the deterioration of social relations and sexual disturbances between elderly (age greater than or equal to 65) and non-elderly patients (age less than 65). Depressive symptoms were present to a greater extent in elderly (48.6%) than in non-elderly patients (34.8%), whereas sexual disturbances were experienced more in non-elderly (34.8%) than elderly (21.6%) patients. No striking differences were noted with regard to the deterioration of social relations. The differences observed, although marked in terms of percentage, were not statistically significant given the relatively small number of cases examined.