Table 1.

Respondents’ characteristics

	Total	Vaginal delivery (n = 2,248)	Caesarean section (n = 395)	p value
Age (years)	35.98 (SD 4.63)	35.81 (SD 4.60)	36.95 (SD 4.67)	0.001
Body mass index (continuous)	25.04 (SD 4.93)	24.82 (SD 4.82)	26.31 (SD 5.38)	0.001
Number of deliveries				0.001
1	448 (17.0%)	317 (14.1%)	131 (33.2%)
2	1,449 (54.8%)	1,235 (54.9%)	214 (54.2%)
≥ 3	746 (28.2%)	696 (31.0%)	50 (12.7%)
Use of medicine for defecation disorders				0.179
No	2,421 (91.6%)	2,070 (92.1%)	351 (88.9%)
Laxatives	198 (7.5%)	159 (7.1%)	39 (9.9%)
Anti-diarrhoea	23 (0.9%)	18 (0.8%)	5 (1.3%)
Combination	1 (0.0%)	1 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)
Use of medicine for other comorbidities				0.026
No	2,020 (76.8%)	1,736 (77.6%)	284 (72.4%)
Yes	609 (23.2%)	501 (22.4%)	108 (27.6%)
Daily fluid intake				0.871
More than 1.5 l	1,804 (68.3%)	1,533 (68.2%)	271 (68.6%)
Less than 1.5 l	839 (31.7%)	715 (31.8%)	124 (31.4%)
Fruit intake				0.413
At least two pieces of fruit	1,875 (52%)	1,177 (52.4%)	198 (50.1%)
Fewer than two pieces of fruit	1,268 (48.0%)	1,071 (47.6%)	197 (49.9%)
Vegetable intake				0.883
At least 150 g	1,972 (74.6%)	1,676 (74.6%)	296 (74.9%)
Less than 150 g	670 (25.4%)	571 (25.4%)	99 (25.1%)
Slice of brown bread or whole grain bread				0.159
No	745 (28.2%)	622 (27.7%)	123 (31.1%)
Yes	1,887 (71.8%)	1,625 (72.3%)	272 (68.9%)
Use of laxatives				0.316
Never	2,449 (92.7%)	2,091 (93.0%)	358 (90.6%)
Less than once a month	98 (3.7%)	80 (3.6%)	18 (4.6%)
Monthly	39 (1.5%)	29 (1.3%)	10 (2.5%)
Weekly	23 (0.9%)	19 (0.8%)	4 (1.0%)
Daily	34 (1.3%)	29 (1.3%)	5 (1.3%)
Usage of enema				0.286
No	2,616 (99.0%)	2,227 (99.1%)	389 (98.5%)
Yes	27 (1.0%)	21 (0.9%)	6 (1.5%)
Disease that could influence defecation				0.024
No	2,301 (87.1%)	1,971 (87.7%)	330 (83.5%)
Yes	342 (12.9%)	277 (12.3%)	65 (16.5%)

SD standard deviation