Werth Barry L, Christopher Sybèle-Anne
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
J Clin Med. 2021 Jan 4;10(1):143. doi: 10.3390/jcm10010143.
Laxatives are widely available without prescription and, as a consequence, they are commonly used for self-management of constipation by community-dwelling adults. However, it is not clear to what extent laxatives are used. Nor is it clear how laxatives are chosen, how they are used and whether consumers are satisfied with their performance. This review of published literature in the last 30 years shows the prevalence of laxative use in community-dwelling adults varied widely from 1% to 18%. The prevalence of laxative use in adults with any constipation (including both chronic and sporadic constipation) also varied widely from 3% to 59%. Apart from any geographical differences and differences in research methodologies, this wide range of estimated prevalence may be largely attributed to different definitions used for laxatives. This review also shows that laxative choice varies, and healthcare professionals are infrequently involved in selection. Consequently, satisfaction levels with laxatives are reported to be low and this may be because the laxatives chosen may not always be appropriate for the intended use. To improve constipation management in community and primary healthcare settings, further research is required to determine the true prevalence of laxative use and to fully understand laxative utilisation.
泻药无需处方即可广泛获取，因此，社区居住的成年人常将其用于便秘的自我管理。然而，泻药的使用程度尚不清楚。泻药的选择方式、使用方法以及消费者对其效果是否满意也不清楚。对过去30年已发表文献的综述表明，社区居住成年人中泻药的使用 prevalence 差异很大，从1%到18%不等。患有任何便秘（包括慢性和偶发性便秘）的成年人中泻药的使用 prevalence 也差异很大，从3%到59%不等。除了地域差异和研究方法的不同外，这种估计 prevalence 的广泛差异可能主要归因于对泻药使用的不同定义。该综述还表明，泻药的选择各不相同，医疗保健专业人员很少参与选择过程。因此，据报道对泻药的满意度较低，这可能是因为所选择的泻药可能并不总是适合预期用途。为了改善社区和初级医疗保健环境中的便秘管理，需要进一步研究以确定泻药使用 prevalence 的真实情况，并充分了解泻药的使用情况。
