Effect of comprehensive intervention on antipsychotic drug induced constipation

Abstract

Objective To explore the effect of comprehensive intervention on constipation caused by antipsychotic drugs. Methods Ninty patients with antipsychotic drug induced constipation who were admitted to our hospital from June 2012 to October 2013 were enrolled in this investigation and randomly assigned to the comprehensive intervention group(CIG, n=46) and the routine care group(RCG, n=44). The subjects of the RCG received routine diet and medication therapy; and those of CIG received comprehensive intervention of life style, psychological ability, cognition, nursing and traditional chinese medicine(TCM) for 3 months. Constipation symptoms scale and Patient Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life Questionnaire (PAC-QOL) were assessed before and after the intervention. Results CIG showed significant improvement in defecation difficulty, defecation force, defecation duration, frequency, abdominal distension, total symptom score, PAC-QOL, physical discomfort, psycho-social discomfort, anxiety and treatment satisfaction were(2.8±2.1), (2.2±1.6), (2.4±1.3), (2.1±1.7), (1.5±0.9), (14.0±8.1)respectively (t values were 2.629, 3.818, 2.328, 2.593, 2.578, 2.913, 7.499, 2.570, 5.012, 2.249 and 12.259, respectively; all P<0.05). Conclusion Comprehensive intervention may be an effective therapy against psychiatric drug induced constipation. Key words: Health education; Constipation; Psychiatric drugs; Comparative effec tiveness research