Premium
Number of retained radiopaque markers on a colonic transit study does not correlate with symptom severity or quality of life in chronic constipation
Author(s) -
Staller K.,
Barshop K.,
Ananthakrishnan A. N.,
Kuo B.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
neurogastroenterology and motility
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.489
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1365-2982
pISSN - 1350-1925
DOI - 10.1111/nmo.13269
Subject(s) - medicine , chronic constipation , constipation , irritable bowel syndrome , quality of life (healthcare) , gastroenterology , confounding , cohort , nursing
Background Ingestion of radiopaque markers ( ROM ) is frequently used to determine colonic transit in chronic constipation. Although ≥20% of retained markers at 5 days defines slow‐transit constipation, some clinicians use the number of retained markers to determine disease severity. Methods We assembled a cross‐sectional cohort of patients presenting for evaluation of chronic constipation who underwent transit testing by ROM and completed validated symptom severity and quality‐of‐life ( QOL ) measures. We performed a correlation analysis to determine whether there was an association between number of retained markers and symptom severity and QOL . Key Results Among 159 patients undergoing evaluation for chronic constipation, there was poor correlation between the number of retained markers and symptom severity ( R = .09, P = .25) and QOL. Among the 55 patients with slow‐transit constipation defined by ≥5 retained markers retained on day 5, there were similarly poor correlations between symptom severity ( R = .17, P = .21) and QOL ( R = .07, P = .60). Excluding patients with irritable bowel syndrome and outlet obstruction by balloon expulsion testing did not materially alter our results, nor did a multivariable analysis controlling for demographic and psychiatric confounders. Conclusions and Inferences Among patients with chronic constipation, number of retained markers on a ROM colonic transit study does not correlate with measures of symptom severity or QOL . Clinicians should be cautious about overinterpreting ROM transit testing.