Experience with a screening method for laxative abuse

1 Abuse of laxatives may lead to a variety of serious disorders which are usually difficult to recognize because of the heterogenicity of the toxic effects. 2 In order to facilitate the diagnosis of chronic laxative poisoning, a laboratory screening method for the detection of colonic stimulants in urine has been designed and has been applied in practice over a three-year-period. 3 During this period, 157 samples from 81 patients were sent to the laboratory. Fifteen patients (18.5%) were definitely shown to use self-prescribed laxatives. 4 Next to the diphenolic compounds: bisacodyl, phenolphthalein and bisoxatin, the anthraquinone derivative rhein, a metabolite of vegetable laxatives, was found in several cases. In the urine of three patients a substance resembling rhein was found, which was shown to be aloe-emodin. 5 It is concluded that chronic self-poisoning with laxatives is a fairly common disorder than can easily be overlooked. Laboratory screening of the urine of suspected patients is an economic and reliable method for its diagnosis.