Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial

Many institutionalized patients and their healthcare providers are dissatisfied with current laxative therapy. This study compared therapeutic efficacy, safety, and laxative cost of an herbal formula (CCH1) and lactulose for long stay patients with constipation. In this double-blind, double-dummy, a...

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Main Authors: Huang, Chien-Hsun, Lin, Jui-Shan, Li, Tsai-Chung, Lee, Shih-Chang, Wang, Hsiu Po, Lue, Hung-Chi, Su, Yi-Chang
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3313604/
id pubmed-3313604
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-33136042012-04-03 Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial Huang, Chien-Hsun Lin, Jui-Shan Li, Tsai-Chung Lee, Shih-Chang Wang, Hsiu Po Lue, Hung-Chi Su, Yi-Chang Research Article Many institutionalized patients and their healthcare providers are dissatisfied with current laxative therapy. This study compared therapeutic efficacy, safety, and laxative cost of an herbal formula (CCH1) and lactulose for long stay patients with constipation. In this double-blind, double-dummy, and placebo-controlled trial, we randomized 93 residents with chronic constipation from two long-term care facilities in Taiwan to receive either CCH1 with lactulose placebo or CCH1 placebo with lactulose for 8 weeks, then followed up for 4 weeks without study medication. Both treatments were effective and well tolerated for patients, but CCH1 produced more spontaneous bowel movements, less rectal treatments, less amount of rescue laxative, and lower laxative cost than lactulose during treatment. No significant differences were found in stool consistency, stool amount, global assessment, and safety concerns. In conclusion, our results suggest that CCH1 may have better efficacy and could be used as an alternative option to lactulose in the treatment of constipation in long-term care. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012 2012-03-18 /pmc/articles/PMC3313604/ /pubmed/22474530 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/923190 Text en Copyright © 2012 Chien-Hsun Huang et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Huang, Chien-Hsun
Lin, Jui-Shan
Li, Tsai-Chung
Lee, Shih-Chang
Wang, Hsiu Po
Lue, Hung-Chi
Su, Yi-Chang
spellingShingle Huang, Chien-Hsun
Lin, Jui-Shan
Li, Tsai-Chung
Lee, Shih-Chang
Wang, Hsiu Po
Lue, Hung-Chi
Su, Yi-Chang
Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
author_facet Huang, Chien-Hsun
Lin, Jui-Shan
Li, Tsai-Chung
Lee, Shih-Chang
Wang, Hsiu Po
Lue, Hung-Chi
Su, Yi-Chang
author_sort Huang, Chien-Hsun
title Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
title_short Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
title_full Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
title_fullStr Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of a Chinese Herbal Medicine (CCH1) and Lactulose as First-Line Treatment of Constipation in Long-Term Care: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Double-Dummy, and Placebo-Controlled Trial
title_sort comparison of a chinese herbal medicine (cch1) and lactulose as first-line treatment of constipation in long-term care: a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, and placebo-controlled trial
description Many institutionalized patients and their healthcare providers are dissatisfied with current laxative therapy. This study compared therapeutic efficacy, safety, and laxative cost of an herbal formula (CCH1) and lactulose for long stay patients with constipation. In this double-blind, double-dummy, and placebo-controlled trial, we randomized 93 residents with chronic constipation from two long-term care facilities in Taiwan to receive either CCH1 with lactulose placebo or CCH1 placebo with lactulose for 8 weeks, then followed up for 4 weeks without study medication. Both treatments were effective and well tolerated for patients, but CCH1 produced more spontaneous bowel movements, less rectal treatments, less amount of rescue laxative, and lower laxative cost than lactulose during treatment. No significant differences were found in stool consistency, stool amount, global assessment, and safety concerns. In conclusion, our results suggest that CCH1 may have better efficacy and could be used as an alternative option to lactulose in the treatment of constipation in long-term care.
publisher Hindawi Publishing Corporation
publishDate 2012
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3313604/
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