Tack et al reported criteria for failure of a treatment to provide adequate relief for a patient with chronic constipation. The authors are from multiple hospitals in Europe.
Patient selection: chronic constipation on therapy
Outcome: failure of adequate relief
Criteria for failure of adequate relief based on responses over the past 2 weeks:
(1) (inadequate number of bowel movements most of the time) AND (complete bowel movements on less than 3 days per week)
(2) (the patient needs to strain on most occasions) OR (straining is getting worse)
(3) (there is no improvement in stool consistence on current therapy) AND (Bristol stool scale less than 3)
(4) insufficient improvement in other signs and symptoms of chronic constipation
(5) (current treatment poorly tolerated) OR (relief provided unacceptable to the patient)
The presence of 1 or more of the criteria indicates treatment failure.
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