Constipation afflicts most in aged care

New evidence of health conditions

New research from the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, shows approximately 70% of aged care residents are living with constipation (74% of women, 68% of men). Constipation can impact the quality of life of residents, and if left unchecked, can lead to more serious complications.

Constipation can be prevented by addressing lifestyle factors, such as adequate hydration, dietary fibre intake, and physical activity. However, our analysis found that residents with constipation were likely to have daily doses of laxatives to manage their condition, lead researcher Dr Magda Raban said.

This research has for the first time integrated three sources of electronic data to measure the prevalence of 60 health conditions. Dr Raban commented:

The aged care sector is awash with data but, due to the lack of integration of the sources, struggles with the ability to turn it into useful information putting care at risk.

This new data shows the high prevalence of constipation and reliance on laxatives for management and points to the need for a more comprehensive constipation management plan for aged care residents. “This insight would have remained hidden without our innovative linking of the sector’s electronic datasets,” Dr Raban stated.

Further, Dr Raban said unfortunately, recent research by our Institute has also found that assistance with toileting was commonly missed or assigned a low priority by overworked aged care staff internationally. These delays in toileting will make constipation worse. A participant in the study noted: “And the thing that upsets him the most is having to wait so long to go [to the toilet] … He’ll say to me ‘Darling, I was yelling ‘help’, and no one came’, and he gets really angry.”

With the restrictions on visits by family members and the extra task pressure on staff brought about by COVID-19, constipation is in further danger of being overlooked.

The research also highlighted the groups of people most likely to be afflicted by clusters of conditions. This information can assist providers planning care. For instance more than 80% of women aged over 85 years residing in residential aged care facilities are living with depression, constipation, arthritis, and either peptic ulcer disease or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

Read Sydney Morning Herald feature: Far from happy bowels: The most common condition afflicting aged care residents by Julie Power

Read the Australian Ageing Agenda article: Study highlights data gaps in residents' health status

Read the journal article: Kimberly E. Lind, Magdalena Z. Raban, Lindsey Brett, Mikaela L. Jorgensen, Andrew Georgiou & Johanna I. Westbrook. Measuring the prevalence of 60 health conditions in older Australians in residential aged care with electronic health records: a retrospective dynamic cohort study. Population Health Metrics 18, 25 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12963-020-00234-z

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