NEW! Discover the Bowel Interest Group’s latest report
The Bowel Interest Group’s latest report, The Cost of Opioid-induced Constipation, sets out to educate primary and secondary healthcare professionals in the management of OIC.
KEY FACTS
- Studies suggest that OIC affects between 41% and 57% of patients taking opioids for pain and 87% of patients with terminal cancer using opioids.1
- Constipation is one of the most common reasons patients avoid taking opioid treatments or stop taking them.
- Doctors are prescribing laxatives for OIC, even though their effectiveness is limited.
- In 2021, nearly 23 million opioid analgesic prescriptions were dispensed in the community, at a cost of approximately £202 million.2
- In 2018-19, the estimated annual spend by NHS England on constipation was £168 million.3
1. Cobo Dols M., Beato Zambrano C., Cabezón-Gutiérrez L., et al. (2021). One-year efficacy and safety of naloxegol on symptoms and quality of life related to opioid-induced constipation in patients with cancer: KYONAL study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care.
2. Prescription data for section code 040702 (Opioid Analgesic Prescribing), 0106 Laxative Prescribing), and 010606 (PAMORA Prescribing) from Jan 2017 – Dec 2021. Accessed March 2022 from NHS BSA England Prescribing Database and Openprescribing.net.
3. Bowel Interest Group (2020). Cost of constipation report. 2020. Available from: https://bowelinterestgroup.co.uk/resources/cost-of-constipation-report-2020/
The Bowel Interest Group has received funding for this report from Sandoz. Sandoz have had no editorial control over this report.
