{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T01:51:54Z","timestamp":1777081914088,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,29]],"date-time":"2024-09-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1727568000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation, Oman","award":["BFP\/GRG\/HSS\/22\/046"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BFP\/GRG\/HSS\/22\/046"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: Constipation affects health-related quality of life and increases hospital visits. We conducted this prospective cohort study to assess laxative use, health outcomes of constipation in medically hospitalized patients, and related health outcomes. Materials and Methods: A prospective single-center study included all adult patients admitted under the General Internal Medicine Unit from 1 February 2022, to 31 August 2022. Constipation was defined using the Constipation Assessment Scale (CAS). Patients were assessed for 28 days during their hospital stay and up to 90 days post-discharge. Result: Among the included patients, 62.45% experienced constipation, which was associated with poor health outcomes including delirium (p = 0.048), intensive care admission (p &lt; 0.01), cardiopulmonary arrest (p &lt; 0.01), inpatient mortality (p &lt; 0.01), longer hospital stay (p &lt; 0.01), 90-day mortality (p &lt; 0.01), and 90-day hospital readmission (p &lt; 0.01). Laxative treatment was administered to only 33.93% of patients with constipation and was more commonly used among older patients (p &lt; 0.01), those with high CAS scores (p &lt; 0.01), longer hospital stays (p &lt; 0.01), and critically ill patients (intensive care admission) (p = 0.01), as well as those who had cardiopulmonary arrest (p &lt; 0.01) and high inpatient mortality (p &lt; 0.01). Conclusions: This study identified several associations between constipation and poor health outcomes and highlighted the underutilization of laxatives in treating constipation. It is vital to interpret our results with caution. Therefore, we believe that a randomized controlled trial will help enhance our understanding of the interaction between constipation, laxative use, and poor health outcomes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina60101599","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]],"date-time":"2024-09-30T04:00:04Z","timestamp":1727668804000},"page":"1599","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Impact of Constipation on Health Outcomes in Medically Hospitalized Patients: A Prospective Study on Laxative Use and Health Care Outcomes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"60","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2077-7186","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abdullah M.","family":"Al Alawi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat 123, Oman"},{"name":"Internal Medicine Residency Training Program, Oman Medical Specialty Board, Muscat 130, Oman"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-4287-4390","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jawahar","family":"Al Nou\u2019mani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat 123, Oman"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Nahid","family":"Al Abri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Collage of Medicine and Health Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maryam","family":"Al Sabbri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Collage of Medicine and Health Science, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5309-7780","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juhaina Salim","family":"Al-Maqbali","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat 123, Oman"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat 123, Oman"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1083","DOI":"10.3109\/00365529709002985","article-title":"Quality of life in patients with different types of functional constipation","volume":"32","author":"Gliav","year":"1997","journal-title":"Scand. 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