An observational study in Bowel Symptoms, Constipation and Gastrointestinal Symptoms, sponsored by Lokman Hekim University. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-24.
Sponsored by Lokman Hekim University · Observational
This prospective observational study aims to investigate the association between final examination stress and bowel symptoms in university students. Participants will be evaluated during the final examination period, which represents a naturally occurring period of increased academic stress. Bowel-related symptoms, including constipation-related complaints, defecation-related pain, stool characteristics, and urgency, will be assessed. Participants will also complete a 7-day diary to record bowel characteristics and selected lifestyle factors, including sleep duration, daily step count, and fluid intake. These factors will be examined as potential variables associated with bowel symptoms during the examination period.
University students may experience increased psychological stress during final examination periods due to academic workload, performance expectations, and time pressure. Stress may influence gastrointestinal function through alterations in the brain-gut axis, autonomic nervous system activity, gastrointestinal motility, and visceral sensitivity. Examination periods may also be accompanied by changes in daily lifestyle behaviors, such as sleep duration, physical activity, and fluid intake, which may further influence bowel function.
This prospective, observational, analytical study is designed to evaluate bowel symptoms among university students during the final examination period. Participants will complete a sociodemographic and clinical information form and will be assessed for constipation-related symptoms using Rome IV-based questions. Additional bowel-related characteristics, including pain during defecation, pain intensity and location, urgency to defecate, and stool type, will be recorded.
Participants will also complete a 7-day follow-up diary during the final examination period. The diary will include daily records of defecation-related symptoms and stool characteristics as well as daily fluid intake, step count, and sleep duration. Daily step count and sleep duration will be considered potential lifestyle-related factors associated with bowel symptoms rather than primary outcomes.
The primary objective of the study is to investigate bowel symptoms during a period of final examination stress in university students. Secondary objectives are to examine the relationships between bowel symptoms and selected lifestyle-related factors, particularly sleep duration, physical activity, and fluid intake. No therapeutic, pharmacological, exercise-based, or invasive intervention will be administered as part of the study.
1,046 studies on the registry are indexed under Constipation; 161 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 100 is below the median of 120 across 126 observational studies indexed under Constipation.
Browse Constipation studies →Lokman Hekim University is the lead sponsor of 43 studies on the registry; 17 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
The study population will consist of undergraduate university students aged 18 years or older who are enrolled in courses with final examinations during the study period. Eligible students who meet the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria and voluntarily agree to participate will be included in the study.
Participants will be evaluated during the final examination period, which represents a naturally occurring period of academic stress. During this period, bowel-related symptoms and selected lifestyle factors, including sleep duration, daily step count, and water intake, will be assessed. Participants will also complete a 7-day follow-up diary to record daily bowel characteristics and related symptoms.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
University students who meet the eligibility criteria and participate in the study during the final examination period will constitute a single observational cohort. Participants will undergo assessment of bowel symptoms and related lifestyle factors during the study period. No allocation or randomization will be performed.
Other: Observational Assessment During the Final Examination Period
Participants will complete assessments of bowel symptoms and a 7-day diary during the final examination period. The diary will include daily records of bowel-related symptoms, stool characteristics, fluid intake, step count, and sleep duration. No treatment, medication, exercise program, or other therapeutic intervention will be administered.
Constipation-Related Bowel Symptoms
Constipation-related bowel symptoms will be assessed using Rome IV-based questions. The assessment (Rome IV criterias) will include defecation frequency, painful or difficult defecation, large-diameter stools, stool withholding behaviors, sensation of a large fecal mass in the rectum, fecal incontinence, and duration of symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline
Defecation-Related Pain
Participants will record the presence or absence of pain during defecation each day. When pain is present, its location (abdominal or anal region) and intensity will also be recorded. Pain intensity will be rated on a numerical scale ranging from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating greater pain intensity.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
Defecation Urgency
Participants will record the severity of urgency to defecate each day as mild, moderate, or severe.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
Stool Type
Participants will record their daily stool type according to the stool form chart provided in the study diary.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
Daily Step Count
Daily step count will be recorded using data obtained from participants' personal smartphones, smartwatches, or other step-counting devices. The mean daily step count across the 7-day monitoring period will also be calculated and evaluated as a lifestyle-related factor potentially associated with bowel symptoms.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
Sleep Duration
Participants will record the total duration of sleep for each day in hours. The mean daily sleep duration across the 7-day monitoring period will be calculated and evaluated as a potential factor associated with bowel symptoms.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
Daily Water Intake
Participants will record their total daily water intake in milliliters. The mean daily water intake across the 7-day monitoring period will be calculated and examined in relation to bowel symptoms.
Time frame: Daily for 7 consecutive days during the final examination period
No study locations are listed for this record.
Start is estimated for Nov 2026; primary completion for Dec 2026, 1 month later.
Of 42 non-industry observational studies under Constipation, half reached primary completion within 26 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 46. This study's planned 1 month is below that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 52 studies reached it within 26 months; a quarter within 13 and three quarters within 46.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Lokman Hekim University