title: Impact of persistent constipation on health-related quality of life and mortality in older community-dwelling women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Very little is known about whether the reported health-related impact of constipation is worse in people who experience constipation over a long period of time vs. those with more transient symptoms. We aimed to determine the impact of persistent vs. transient constipation on health-related quality of life (QOL), depression, and mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from 5,107 women (aged 70-75 years in 1996) who answered "Have you had constipation in the past 12 months?" in all five surveys sent out every 3 years of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 5,107 women, 20.9, 54.1, and 24.7% reported having persistent constipation on at least 4 out of 5 surveys, transient constipation reported on 1-3 surveys, or none reported over the 15-year time frame, respectively. Women who reported persistent constipation had significantly lower scores for all domains of QOL on the SF-36 except role-emotional, and had higher levels of self-reported depression, even after adjusting for number of chronic illnesses and fluid intake. Mortality rates were increased when comparing women with no reported constipation with persistently reported constipation (8.2% vs. 11%, odds ratio = 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.0, 1.74, P = 0.05) controlling for specific chronic illnesses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Persistent constipation among older women is associated with poor health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Koloski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wai
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Byles
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Talley
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003248:Constipation / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors