Psychological effects of stomas — I. Psychosocial morbidity one year after surgery

Sixty eight subjects who had undergone stoma surgery 12 months previously were assessed as to their psychiatric and social outcome. They had been previously also assessed at the 3rd month postoperatively. The majority had a diagnosis of bowel cancer (38) and smaller numbers had inflammatory bowel disease (15) or diverticular disease (15).22% of the subjects had moderate or severe psychiatric symptoms and most of these had also shown similar disturbance at the 3 month assessment, indicating that the condition was longstanding. There was no significant difference in outcome between the diagnostic groups. The results also showed that ability to perform housework, leisure and sexual activities was affected in a number of subjects.