Table 5.

The interval from surgery until the first bowel movement

S. No.	The interval from surgery until the first bowel movement	Control		Chewing gum		p-value
		No.	Percentage	No.	Percentage
1	48–72 hours	7	14	30	60	0.000011
2	73–96 hours	38	76	18	36
3	97 hours or more	5	10	2	4

significance of bold value p < 0.05