TY - JOUR ID - 6818 TI - Pharmacological treatment of chronic constipation: a literature review JO - Reviews in Clinical Medicine JA - RCM LA - en SN - 2345-6256 AU - Salari, Roshanak AU - Yousefi, Mahdi AU - Salari, Masoumeh AD - Department of Traditional Persian Pharmacy, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran AD - Department of Persian Medicine, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. AD - Department of Internal Medicine, Ghaem Hospital, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Y1 - 2016 PY - 2016 VL - 3 IS - 3 SP - 128 EP - 132 KW - Chronic constipation KW - Pharmacological actions KW - Signs and symptoms DO - 10.22038/rcm.2016.6818 N2 - Chronic constipation is a very common disease that is particularly commonplace among members of the elderly population. It is one of the most widespread bowel disorders, and it causes significant pain and discomfort; as such, it usually requires medical attention. The major causes of constipation are slow colonic movements and/or functional gastrointestinal disorders. This review aimed to examine the pharmacological treatments that are currently available for chronic constipation. To develop insights into the causes and treatments of chronic constipation, relevant review articles that were published on the Pubmed, Cochrane database, and Embase websites, were examined. The outputs of these studies indicated that high daily intake of fibers and fluids in addition to regular exercise can be very helpful in avoiding and treating constipation. The pharmacological treatments that are administered to treat this disease typically increase the water content of the bowel lumen, and this leads to more regular bowel movements. Novel drugs have been introduced to treat constipation, and many of these are now subject to formal research studies. Since constipation can facilitate the development of other gastrointestinal diseases, it is important that we develop an understanding the therapeutic treatments that are available with the intention of identifying which of these may represent the most effective method for treating this disease. With that objective in mind, this review was undertaken to review the clinical effectiveness of the different pharmacological treatments that are employed to treat or prevent constipation. UR - https://rcm.mums.ac.ir/article_6818.html L1 - https://rcm.mums.ac.ir/article_6818_f1701ede72212c0ec5016b0deaeed0f3.pdf ER -