Patient-Reported Experience in Colorectal Disease is Predicted by Cleanliness

Children with colorectal diseases such as anorectal malformations (ARM), Hirschsprung disease (HD), and functional constipation (FC) undergo bowel management programs (BMPs) to achieve cleanliness. While patient outcomes, such as cleanliness and quality of life, are well understood, patient experience, such as relationships, ability to participate in sports, and independence and self-confidence is less well understood. We aimed to assess the relationship between BMP and patient experience.

A cross-sectional survey was administered to 295 patients ≥3 years old with ARM, HD, and FC completing BMP. The survey contains 22 questions regarding patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and 11 regarding patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs). Each was graded on a Likert scale, with higher scores meaning better experience. Scores were compared by demographics and clinical characteristics and logistic regression was performed controlling for clinically significant variables. A p-value of ≤0.05 was significant.

There were 205 eligible respondents (69.5%) with a median age of 8.9 years [IQR: 6.1-12.4]. ARM was most common (51.2%) and most achieved cleanliness on BMP (69.3%). There were no differences in experience scores by age, diagnosis, or bowel regimen. Patients that were clean had significantly higher PREM scores (67.7 [IQR: 64.0-83.0] vs. 64.8 [IQR: 55.0-70.1], p = 0.0002) and PROM scores (36.8 [IQR: 33.0-41.0] vs. 34.0 [31.0-38.5], p = 0.005). On regression analysis, cleanliness remained a strongly significant predictor of positive experience scores (β 7.37, SE 1.86, p < 0.0001).

Achieving cleanliness was associated with positive patient experience of bowel management programs. This finding suggests that achieving cleanliness, regardless of regimen, may allow patients the best functional and experiential outcomes.