The burden of constipation in psychiatric hospitals

Abstract

Our study highlights the important burden constipation represents in psychiatric inpatients. Although frequently neglected, it can lead to serious adverse clinical consequences.

Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions for Anticholinergic Medications for Patients with Constipation

“…The prescription of laxatives was found for the majority of patients with constipation (80%), which was in accordance with that described in the UK (86%) [6], Norway (85.3%) [15], Spain (91.7%) [17], and the USA (97.7%) [18] but in a greater proportion and differing markedly from that found in other European countries (38.4–55.3%) [12, 19, 20]. Monotherapy was the most frequent therapeutic pattern (70.4%), very similar to that described in Spain (79%) [17] but much higher than that described in the USA (54%) [18].…”

“…In this study, patients diagnosed with constipation had a mean age of 54.4 years, which was similar to that documented in Spain (53.5 years) [12] but lower than that found in Australia (73.9 years) [13], the UK (77.2 years) [14], and Norway (85.3 years) [15]. There was a predominance of women (69.4%), which was consistent with that described in the UK (64-69%) [6,14] and Norway (72.8%) [15] and in a multicenter study conducted in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and South Korea (62.9-75.5%) [16] but was not consistent with that found in Spain (43.4%) [12] and Australia (50%) [13].…”

“…In this study, patients diagnosed with constipation had a mean age of 54.4 years, which was similar to that documented in Spain (53.5 years) [12] but lower than that found in Australia (73.9 years) [13], the UK (77.2 years) [14], and Norway (85.3 years) [15]. There was a predominance of women (69.4%), which was consistent with that described in the UK (64-69%) [6,14] and Norway (72.8%) [15] and in a multicenter study conducted in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and South Korea (62.9-75.5%) [16] but was not consistent with that found in Spain (43.4%) [12] and Australia (50%) [13]. The prescription of laxatives was found for the majority of patients with constipation (80%), which was in accordance with that described in the UK (86%) [6], Norway (85.3%) [15], Spain (91.7%) [17], and the USA (97.7%) [18] but in a greater proportion and differing markedly from that found in other European countries (38.4-55.3%) [12,19,20].…”

“…There was a predominance of women (69.4%), which was consistent with that described in the UK (64-69%) [6,14] and Norway (72.8%) [15] and in a multicenter study conducted in the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, and South Korea (62.9-75.5%) [16] but was not consistent with that found in Spain (43.4%) [12] and Australia (50%) [13]. The prescription of laxatives was found for the majority of patients with constipation (80%), which was in accordance with that described in the UK (86%) [6], Norway (85.3%) [15], Spain (91.7%) [17], and the USA (97.7%) [18] but in a greater proportion and differing markedly from that found in other European countries (38.4-55.3%) [12,19,20]. Monotherapy was the most fre-quent therapeutic pattern (70.4%), very similar to that described in Spain (79%) [17] but much higher than that described in the USA (54%) [18].…”

Predictors of laxative use in inpatients with schizophrenia on clozapine

“…7 Consequently, in several population studies, the number of laxatives prescribed for constipation was used as a proxy indicator of gastrointestinal hypomotility in patients with severe mental illness. 3,8,9 Following this approach, we first analyzed the prevalence of laxative use to treat constipation in the group of inpatients taking clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Given the common clinical practice of using several laxa-Psychiatry A mphetamine use is strongly associated with psychotic disorders, often necessitating psychiatric admissions and placing heavy demands on the public healthcare system.…”