The use of conventional and complementary health services and self-prescribed treatments amongst young women with constipation: An Australian national cohort study

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• 作者：David Sibbritt^a ; Wenbo Peng^a ; Sungwon Chang^a ; Hongtao Liang^b ; Jon Adams^a ; ^{Jon.Adams@uts.edu.au" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：Complementary and alternative medicine ; Constipated women ; Health service utilisation
• 刊名：Digestive and Liver Disease
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：November 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：48
• 期：11
• 页码：1308-1313
• 全文大小：427 K

文摘

Little research has been conducted regarding the comprehensive health service utilisation in constipation care. This study investigates the comprehensive health service utilisation amongst Australian women with constipation.

Methods

This study draws upon data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. A total of 8074 young women were asked about their frequency of constipation, measures of quality of life, and use of a range of health services and self-prescribed treatments via two postal surveys conducted in 2006 and 2009, respectively.

Results

The prevalence of constipation was 18.5% amongst women in 2009. Constipated women had poorer quality of health than women without constipation. Women who sought help for constipation were more likely to visit multiple groups of conventional and complementary health practitioners compared to women who did not experience constipation (p < 0.005). However, women were less likely to visit a specialist for the management of constipation over time (2006 to 2009). There was an increase in the proportion of women with constipation who self-prescribed vitamins/minerals over time (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Although only 4.5% of women sought help for their constipation, given the increasing use of multiple health services across time, more studies are required regarding the optimal treatment in constipation care.