Bristol Stool Scale

The Bristol Stool Scale or Bristol Stool Chart is a medical aid designed to classify the faeces form into seven groups. It was developed by Heaton and Lewis at the University of Bristol and was first published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology in 1997.^[1] The form of the stool depends on the time it spends in the colon.^[1]

Various stool types

According to the chart, the seven types of stool are:

Type 1: Separate hard lumps, like nuts (hard to pass)
Type 2: Sausage-shaped but lumpy
Type 3: Like a sausage but with cracks on its surface
Type 4: Like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft
Type 5: Soft blobs with clear-cut edges (easily passed)
Type 6: Fluffy pieces with ragged edges, a mushy stool
Type 7: Watery, no solid pieces. Entirely Liquid

Chart Breakdown

Types 1 and 2 indicate constipation;^[2] 3 and 4 are the easiest to pass while types 5-6 are more symptomatic of diarrhea, while type 7 may be a sign of cholera, food poisoning, etc.

It is interesting to note that the United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust and North Bristol NHS Trust, the largest NHS trusts in Bristol, do not, however, use the Bristol Stool Scale.

External links

Faecal incontinence and constipation, CME Geriatric Medicine, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 99 – 108, 2004.
Childhood Constipation

Citations

[1] Stool form scale as a useful guide to intestinal transit time, Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, Vol. 32, No. 9, pp. 920 – 924, September 1997.
[2] "Constipation Management and Nurse Prescribing: The importance of developing a concordant approach".

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