Changes in transit time and defaecatory measurements (median, interquartile range) with wheat bran, senna and loperamide
| Baseline | Active | Difference | 95% CI | p Value | |||
| Whole gut transit time (hours) | |||||||
| Wheat bran | 69.0 | (45.8 to 83.1) | 39.0 | (32.0 to 75.8) | −13.6 | −50.8 to −2.5 | 0.038 |
| Senna | 69.0 | (50.1 to 83.9) | 41.0 | (31.4 to 49.9) | −33.9 | −41.5 to −12.5 | 0.004 |
| Loperamide | 50.3 | (35.7 to 65.0) | 74.0 | (61.3 to 97.0) | 22.3 | 15.6 to 69.8 | 0.004 |
| Calculated stool output (g/week) | |||||||
| Wheat bran | 602 | (401 to 900) | 840 | (466 to 1609) | 280 | −13 to 766 | 0.059 |
| Senna | 658 | (550 to 1344) | 1487 | (794 to 2499) | 633 | −42 to 1159 | 0.059 |
| Loperamide | 1049 | (588 to 1659) | 315 | (189 to 665) | −469 | −1331 to −156 | 0.009 |
| Interdefaecatory intervals (hours) | |||||||
| Wheat bran | 24.0 | (19.2 to 24.0) | 18.0 | (13.5 to 24.0) | −6.0 | −10.2 to −0.5 | 0.023 |
| Senna | 24.0 | (22.5 to 24.0) | 16.0 | (11.5 to 19.6) | −8.0 | −16.0 to −4.0 | 0.005 |
| Loperamide | 24.0 | (17.0 to 24.0) | 36.0 | (24.0 to 48.0) | 16.0 | 3.9 to 24.0 | 0.019 |
| Stool form scores3-150 (mean (SD)) | |||||||
| Wheat bran | 3.5 | (0.7) | 4.3 | (1.2) | 0.8 | 0.1 to 1.6 | 0.025 |
| Senna | 3.6 | (0.9) | 4.6 | (0.6) | 0.9 | 0.3 to 1.5 | 0.005 |
| Loperamide | 4.2 | (0.7) | 2.8 | (1.2) | −1.5 | −2.2 to −0.7 | 0.001 |
↵3-150 The stool form scale ranges from 1 (hard round lumps) to 7 (watery), so a rise in the score represents an acceleration of colonic transit.26 27