Self-reported constipation in patients with advanced cancer: a preliminary report

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Gastroenterology
• Palliative Care

Background:

• Constipation is frequently underdiagnosed in advanced cancer patients.
• Patient-reported constipation (PRC) is often used as an outcome measure in studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• Compare the accuracy of PRC against the modified Rome III (ROME) criteria.
• Determine agreement between PRC, physician assessment, and ROME criteria in advanced cancer outpatients.

Main Methods:

• 100 advanced cancer patients attending a supportive care clinic were screened.
• Constipation assessed via modified ROME criteria, patient report (yes/no and 0-10 scale), and physician assessment (yes/no and 0-10 scale).

Main Results:

• 50% of patients met the modified ROME criteria for constipation.
• Significant disagreement found between ROME criteria and simple patient/physician yes/no reports (33% and 39% disagreement, respectively).
• PRC scores ≥3/10 demonstrated the best sensitivity (0.84) and specificity (0.62).

Conclusions:

• Constipation is highly prevalent in this population.
• Simple yes/no patient self-reports lack clinical utility for constipation assessment.
• A 0-10 patient self-rating scale (score ≥3) is the most effective tool for constipation screening in advanced cancer patients.