Empirically Derived Patterns of Pain, Stooling, and Incontinence and Their Relations to Health-Related Quality of Life Among Youth With Chronic Constipation.

Objective: Chronic constipation is associated with pain, stress, and fecal incontinence, which negatively impact health-related quality of life (HRQoL); however, it is unclear if patterns of pain, stool frequency, and incontinence are differentially associated with HRQoL in youth with chronic constipation. Methods: 410 caregivers completed a demographics and symptoms form, the Parental Opinions of Pediatric Constipation, Pediatric Symptom Checklist, and the Functional Disability Inventory. Results: Stooling patterns were derived using Latent Variable Mixture Modeling. A three-class model emerged: withholding/avoiding ( WA ), pain , and fecal incontinence ( FI ). The pain class reported the greatest amount of disease burden/distress, greatest impairments in illness-related activity limitations, more psychosocial problems, and, along with the FI class, elevated levels of family conflict. The FI class reported the greatest amount of parental worry of social impact. Conclusions: Youth with chronic constipation who experience pain or fecal incontinence may be at a greater risk for specific HRQoL problems such as illness-related activity limitations, psychosocial issues, disease burden and worry, and family conflict.

A multicenter study on childhood constipation and fecal incontinence: effects on quality of life.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the effects of childhood functional constipation compared with functional constipation plus fecal incontinence on quality of life, evaluating effects on physical, psychosocial, and family functioning. STUDY DESIGN: This prospective, multicenter study collected data from 5 regional children's hospitals. Children meeting Rome III criteria for functional constipation were included. Parents completed the following 5 instruments: Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), PedsQL-Family Impact Module, Functional Disability Inventory-Parent Version, Pediatric Inventory for Parents (PIP), and Pediatric Symptom Checklist-Parent Report. RESULTS: Families of 410 children aged 2-18 years (mean [SD], 7.8 [3.5] years; 52% male) were included. Children with functional constipation+fecal incontinence had worse quality of life than children with functional constipation alone (PedsQL Total Score, P ≤ .03). Older children with functional constipation + fecal incontinence had lower quality of life than their younger counterparts (PedsQL Total Score, P ≤ .047). Children with functional constipation+fecal incontinence had worse family functioning (PedsQL-Family Impact Module Total Score, P ≤ .012), greater parental stress (PIP-F Total Score, P ≤ .016; PIP-D Total Score, P ≤ .013), and poorer psychosocial functioning (Pediatric Symptom Checklist Total Score, P ≤ .003). There were no statistically significant between-group differences in physical functioning based on the functional Disability Inventory. CONCLUSION: Fecal incontinence significantly decreases quality of life compared with functional constipation alone in children. Older children with functional constipation+fecal incontinence may be at particular risk. Strategies for early identification and treatment of constipation along with diagnosis and treatment of related adjustment difficulties may mitigate the negative impact of this highly prevalent condition.

Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life With the Parental Opinions of Pediatric Constipation Questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop a caregiver-completed constipation condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) instrument. METHODS: 410 caregivers of children aged 2-18 years completed the Parental Opinions of Pediatric Constipation (POOPC), the PedsQL Generic Core Scales, PedQL Family Impact Module, Pediatric Symptom Checklist, the Functional Disability Inventory, the Pediatric Inventory for Parents, and a demographic questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the POOPC. RESULTS: Analyses yielded four factors called Parental Burden/Distress, Family Conflict, Difficulties with the Medical Team, and Worry about Social Impact that reflect problems in HRQL secondary to constipation and soiling, which were generally more strongly correlated with similar measures relative to a general measure of youth's psychosocial functioning. CONCLUSION: The POOPC is a psychometrically sound measure, which may be useful to clinicians and researchers identifying domains of treatment needs for children and their families.