Dr. Daiello, Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy & Practice (Research), has funding from Ironwood Pharmaceuticals first to characterize the prevalence of constipation and laxative use by long-term care residents and then use these findings to estimate the associated national costs.

Although chronic constipation is highly prevalent in this population, there is no recent (within 15 years) information on the use of laxatives and the associated costs. Furthermore, the few studies about in U.S. nursing homes pre-date the availability of all but one prescription laxative. This study will inform our understanding of current constipation and laxative use among long-term care residents.