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 “Constipation is often thought of as not a serious disease –
particularly among doctors. Patients complain about it but it’s
often not thought of as being medically that relevant,” said Dr.
Anthony Lembo, the study’s senior author from Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center in Boston.
His team’s previous research found that a large number of people
were being hospitalized for constipation, and that led them to
examine ER visits for the same issue, Lembo told Reuters Health in a
phone interview.
“A lot of these people don’t end up getting admitted, obviously, but
they’re seen in the ER,” he said.
Constipation affects an estimated 12 to 19 percent of the U.S.
population, Lembo and colleagues write in The American Journal of
Gastroenterology. Symptoms include having fewer than three bowel
movements a week, or hard, dry and small bowel movements that are
painful or difficult to pass.
Using data from more than 950 U.S. hospitals, the researchers
estimated that there were 497,034 ER visits for constipation during
2006. In 2011, there were 703,391 visits, an increase of about 42
percent.
The increase in ER visits for constipation is greater than the 22
percent increase in overall ER visits during that time, the
researchers write.
Infants and the elderly were most likely to wind up in the ER for
constipation, which mirrors the condition’s prevalence in general,
Lembo said.
Accounting for inflation, the cost of those visits also rose by
about 56 percent per patient, from about $1,500 in 2006 to about
$2,300 in 2011.
About $1.6 billion was spent on ER care for constipation in 2011,
according to those numbers.
The study can’t explain why people come to the ER with constipation,
Lembo said. They may have symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, he
said.
His team thinks there are probably several reasons why visits for
constipation increased, including an increase in the number of
people on government-funded insurance.
Those people may be more likely to seek treatment at an ER and less
likely to purchase over-the-counter treatments for constipation, the
researchers write.
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The new study highlights that constipation is a growing healthcare
issue in the U.S., said Dr. JoAnn Kwah, a gastroenterologist at
Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York.
“One important thing to know about constipation is that it can be
due to many different underlying causes so in order to minimize
developing this disease, it would be important to know why it's
occurring in the first place,” she told Reuters Health in an email.
Health conditions or medications may cause constipation, said Kwah,
who wasn’t involved with the new study. People having issues with
constipation should review their medication list with their
physician, she said.
Constipation can also be caused by a lack of dietary fiber and Kwah
suggests people keep up with the recommended fiber intake of 25 to
30 grams a day.
“This can be done by increasing the amounts of fruits and vegetables
in one's diet, as well as supplementing one's diet with fiber
supplements available from local pharmacies,” she said.
Dehydration may also lead to constipation, Kwah said.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1I0boDJ
The American Journal of Gastroenterology, online March 24, 2015.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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