Journal of Gastrointestinal & Digestive System
Open Access

Research Article

Efficacy of Lubiprostone in Chronic Constipation: Clinical and Work Productivity Outcomes

¹Department of Proctology, Kunimoto Hospital, Asahikawa, Japan

²Department of Gastroenterology, Kunimoto Hospital, Asahikawa, Japan

*Corresponding Author:

Tatsuya Abe
Kunimoto Hospital, 1-7-2-1 Akebono
Asahikawa 070-0061, Japan
Tel: +81-166-25-2241
Fax: +81-166-23-1726
E-mail: tabe@cf6.so-net.ne.jp

Received date: July 23, 2014; Accepted date: September 25, 2014; Published date: September 30, 2014

Citation: Abe T, Hachiro Y, Ebisawa Y, Hishiyama H, Murakami M, et al. (2014) Efficacy of Lubiprostone in Chronic Constipation: Clinical and Work Productivity Outcomes. J Gastroint Dig Syst 4:223. doi:10.4172/2161-069X.1000223

Copyright: © 2014 Abe T G, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Objective: Chronic constipation is a common health problem that significantly affects the quality of life of patients and results in high economic burden. This clinical study was performed to assess the efficacy of lubiprostone in the treatment of chronic constipation using a validated constipation scoring system and the work productivity and activity impairment questionnaire. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 35 patients who received lubiprostone. All the patients had chronic constipation as defined by the Rome III criteria. The patients were treated orally with a 24-μg lubiprostone capsule twice a day. Changes in the scores before and 2 weeks after the beginning of administration were recorded and analyzed. Results: Of the 35 patients, 28 completed the study and were included in the efficacy analysis. The total constipation scoring system score was significantly improved from 11.3 ± 4.8 at baseline to 8.0 ± 4.0 after 2 weeks. Although the work activity subscale did not show a significant improvement, such an improvement was statistically significant in the case of non-work-related activities. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that lubiprostone is effective in improving many chronic constipation related symptoms as well as the quality of life in patients with chronic constipation.

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