Longitudinal Study of Patients With Opioid-Induced Constipation

Plain-language summary

This prospective hybrid longitudinal study was conducted in the United States (US), Canada, the United Kingdom (UK), and Germany. To obtain the most complete and comprehensive understanding of the burden of opioid-induced constipation (OIC) in these countries, this study used a combination of web-based, longitudinal patient survey, retrospective data abstraction from medical records, and a prospective physician survey. The primary objective of this study was to estimate the rate of inadequate response to laxatives (LIR), which was defined as having sufficient laxative use (at least one laxative use ≥ four times per reference period), and inadequate response (defined as fewer than three bowel movements (BMs) OR at least one of the following symptoms on the Patient Assessment of Constipation Symptoms (PAC-SYM) measure scored as moderate, severe or very severe: BMs too hard, straining to have a BM, feeling like you didn't "finish" a BM, and feeling like you had to pass a BM but could not), in a cohort of non-cancer pain and cancer pain (separately) participants with OIC, by country and overall. The secondary study objectives are as follows: 1. To estimate the rate of LIR for two subgroups: 1xLIR and 2xLIR. 1xLIR was defined as use of at least one laxative agent ≥ 4 times in the reference period while 2xLIR was defined as the use of at least two laxative agents, each used ≥ 4 times in the reference period; 2. To describe the baseline demographic and clinical characteristics, including prior health status, comorbidities, constipation-related GI symptoms, and concomitant medications of patients with OIC; 3. To describe drug utilization and self-management of OIC; 4. To describe the pre-index and post-index healthcare resource utilization and estimate costs associated with the diagnosis, treatment, and general management of OIC (including laxative use) and events attributed to OIC, including both direct and indirect costs; 5. To describe patient-reported impact of OIC on health-related quality of life, productivity, and pain management; 6. To describe patient-reported treatment satisfaction with laxative use; and 7. To describe physician-reported awareness of OIC and symptoms and understanding of patient-reported impact of OIC.

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