{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,27]],"date-time":"2026-02-27T05:10:01Z","timestamp":1772169001891,"version":"3.50.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.13315.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,14]],"date-time":"2022-06-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655164800000}}],"reference-count":33,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,14]],"date-time":"2022-06-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1655164800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Department of Health, Health Service Executive and Irish Cancer Society","award":["01092016PCPPS"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["01092016PCPPS"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["hrbopenresearch.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["HRB Open Res"],"abstract":"<ns4:p>\n                    <ns4:bold>Background:<\/ns4:bold>\n                    The prevalence of constipation in patients with cancer is estimated at 50-90%. It is often associated with pain, anorexia, nausea and vomiting and impacts negatively on quality of life.\n                  <\/ns4:p>\n                  <ns4:p>\n                    Despite its common occurrence, it is often poorly recognised and treated by healthcare professionals.\n                    <ns4:bold\/>\n                  <\/ns4:p>\n                  <ns4:p>\n                    <ns4:bold>Methods:<\/ns4:bold>\n                    A national cross-sectional survey was conducted in Ireland to describe constipation prevalence and severity in patients attending cancer centres and to evaluate management efficacy.\u00a0 In-patients or patients attending day oncology wards in any of the country\u2019s eight designated cancer centres were eligible to participate. Participants were shown the Bristol Stool Chart\u00a0 and answered questions regarding stool appearance and sensation of\u00a0 incomplete defecation; they completed the Constipation Assessment Scale. Data on pain character and intensity, opioid use,\u00a0and prescribed and over-the-counter laxative use were collected. Data were summarised using descriptive statistics. Significance of variations for continuous data were determined using t-tests. Conditional ordered logistic regression was undertaken to determine factors associated with constipation.\n                  <\/ns4:p>\n                  <ns4:p>\n                    <ns4:bold>Results:<\/ns4:bold>\n                    The dataset comprised 491 patients. 24.8% had been reviewed by specialist palliative care; 14.5% by the anaesthetic pain team. In total, 42.2% of respondents were taking step 2 or step 3 opioids. Constipation prevalence was 67.6%; 19.4% of patients had Constipation Assessment Scale scores indicating severe constipation. A total of 46% of the respondents were not taking any laxatives. Of those who were taking laxatives, 54.8%\u00a0 reported constipation symptoms. While opioid use was strongly associated with participants reporting higher scores, this association was not seen in those patients receiving specialist palliative care.\n                  <\/ns4:p>\n                  <ns4:p>\n                    <ns4:bold>Conclusions:<\/ns4:bold>\n                    Constipation remains a clinical problem in Irish cancer centres. Despite increased opioid use, patients receiving specialist palliative care were more likely to take laxatives and reported less constipation. Specialist palliative care practice should be studied in order to identify what are the transferable \u2018ingredients\u2019 of effective constipation management.\n                  <\/ns4:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/hrbopenres.13315.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,14]],"date-time":"2022-06-14T10:25:06Z","timestamp":1655202306000},"page":"113","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/hrbopenres.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A national cross-sectional survey of constipation in patients attending cancer centres in Ireland"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"4","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9149-260X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karen","family":"Ryan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Bridget M.","family":"Johnston","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Clare","family":"McAleer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3020-9246","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Laserina","family":"O'Connor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Philip","family":"Larkin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref-1","article-title":"National cancer strategy 2017-2026.","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref-2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2005-2014","DOI":"10.1007\/s00520-010-1051-2","article-title":"Inadequate symptom control in advanced cancer patients across Europe.","volume":"19","author":"E Laugsand","year":"2011","journal-title":"Support Care Cancer."},{"key":"ref-3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"E92-e100","DOI":"10.1188\/13.ONF.E92-E100","article-title":"Trajectory of medication-induced constipation in patients with cancer.","volume":"40","author":"S McMillan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Oncol Nurs Forum."},{"key":"ref-4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9-19.e11","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpainsymman.2019.08.027","article-title":"A Longitudinal Study of Predictors of Constipation Severity in Oncology Outpatients With Unrelieved Pain.","volume":"59","author":"S Valenta","year":"2020","journal-title":"J Pain Symptom Manage."},{"key":"ref-5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e10631","DOI":"10.1097\/MD.0000000000010631","article-title":"Chronic constipation: A review of literature.","volume":"97","author":"M Forootan","year":"2018","journal-title":"Medicine (Baltimore)."},{"key":"ref-6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"132-41","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gastrohep.2016.02.006","article-title":"Clinical practice guidelines for the management of constipation in adults. 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We are delighted that you are satisfied with the amendments.","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/4-113\/v2#referee-comment-3462","order":1,"name":"referee-comment-3462","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.14496.r30749, Rita Wickham, Rush University College of Nursing, Chicago, IL, USA, 10 Dec 2021, version 1, 2 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/4-113\/v1#referee-response-30749","order":2,"name":"referee-response-30749","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.21956\/hrbopenres.14824.r32934, Young D. Chang, Department of Supportive Care Medicine, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, USA, 19 Oct 2022, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/hrbopenresearch.org\/articles\/4-113\/v2#referee-response-32934","order":3,"name":"referee-response-32934","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"This project was funded by a grant awarded to Prof. Laserina O\u2019Connor and Prof. Philip Larkin from the Department of Health, Health Service Executive and Irish Cancer Society (01092016PCPPS). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","order":4,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}