Level of Awareness of the Hierarchical Diagnosis and Treatment for Chronic Constipation and Associated Factors in Chronic Constipation Patients

Abstract

Objective To study the level of awareness of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment for chronic constipation and associated factors in chronic constipation patients in Yangpu District, Shanghai. Methods From October 2016 to February 2017, we conducted a survey in 240 selected chronic constipation patients from Yangpu District, Shanghai who had received treatment from the sampled two community health service centers and one tertiary grade B hospital in Yangpu District, Shanghai by sampling survey with a self-developed questionnaire with a Cronbach’s α of 0.768. Results The survey achieved an effective response rate of 91.25% (219/240). Of the 219 final participants, hierarchical diagnosis and treatment for chronic constipation was completely unknown to 48.9% of them, very familiar to 16.9% of them, moderately familiar to 34.2% of them. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis found that, age (20 to 60 years old), educational attainment, frequency of visits to the community health service center within one year before the survey were significantly associated with the level of awareness of the hierarchical diagnosis and treatment for chronic constipation (P<0.05). Conclusion The level of awareness of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment for chronic constipation in chronic constipation patients in Yangpu District, Shanghai is not satisfactory, and it is affected by age and educational attainment. Therefore, it is suggested that the social and medical institutions should strengthen the propaganda of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment for chronic constipation to improve it, which in turn can promote the rate of community-based first contact care for the disease, and by which the implementation of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment system for chronic constipation can be promoted.