Table 3.

Characteristics Predictive of 24-Month Bowel Function (N=148)

Characteristic	Value		P Value
	Patient Sex
	Female (n=56)	Male (n=92)
Total BFQ score, mean	2.1	1.4	.04
Protective clothing, %	14.3	4.3	.03
Urgency, %	49.1	29.3	.02
Cramping, %	30.9	10.9	.002
	Anterior Resection of the Rectum Before RT
	Yes (n=13)	No (n=135)
Total BFQ score, mean	3.2	1.5	<.001
Nocturnal bowel movements, %	38.5	8.2	<.001
Incontinence, %	30.8	7.4	.01
Clustering, %	84.6	23.0	<.001
Liquid bowel movements, %	38.5	16.3	.048
	Chemotherapy With 5-Fluorouracil
	Yes (n=29)	No (n=119)
Total BFQ score, mean	2.5	1.4	.003
Nocturnal bowel movements, %	31.0	5.9	<.001
Incontinence, %	20.7	6.7	.02
Clustering, %	69.0	18.5	<.001
Stool-gas confusion, %	37.9	17.6	.02

Characteristic	Value
	Location of Primary Cancera			3-Group P Valueb	Rectum vs Prostate P Valuec
	Rectum (n=27)	Gynecologic Organ (n=47)	Prostate (n=72)
Total BFQ score, mean	2.5	2.0	1.0	<.001	<.001
Nocturnal bowel movements, %	33.3	8.5	4.2	<.001	<.001
Incontinence, %	18.5	10.6	4.2	.03	.02
Clustering, %	70.4	27.7	11.1	<.001	<.001
Protective clothing, %	7.4	14.9	2.8	.02	.30
Stool-gas confusion, %	37.0	21.3	13.9	.004	.01
Urgency, %	46.2	46.8	25.0	.01	.04
Cramping, %	11.1	37.0	9.7	.001	.24

Abbreviation: BFQ, bowel function questionnaire; RT, radiotherapy.

^aTwo patients had a location of “other” and were excluded from this analysis.

^bSignificant P values indicate a difference in the incidence distributions among the 3 groups. It does not indicate pairwise differences.

^cP value indicates significance of rectum vs prostate scores and frequencies.