Prevalence of Constipation in patients on long term Clozapine treatment

BACKGROUND: Constipation is one of the most common side effects that is experienced by patients receiving clozapine. However, most of the data on constipation in patients on clozapine is for patients who have received for short duration. AIM: To evaluate prevalence of constipation in patients receiving long term clozapine therapy. Methodology: 144 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, receiving clozapine for at least 1 year were evaluated for the prevalence of constipation using Rome IV diagnostic criteria and Bristol stool chart. Institute Ethics Committee approval was sought and written consent was obtained from the patient RESULTS: The mean age of study sample was 35.82 (SD 10.23) with range of 20-78 years. Mean duration of education of study sample was 12.43(SD 3.35). About two-third (64%) of the study sample was of male gender and about half (53.5%) of the patients were currently married. As per Rome IV criteria more than half (55.5%, n=80) of the study sample had constipation. As per Bristol stool chart 45 (31.2%) of the participants had constipation. CONCLUSION: Constipation is highly prevalent in patients receiving clozapine on long term basis. Hence, such patients should be evaluated for constipation from time to time and intervention should be done to address the same.