Black CJ¹, Burr NE¹, Ford AC². Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2019 Jul 11. pii: S1542-3565(19)30740-2. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2019.07.007. [Epub ahead of print]

Author information

1 Leeds Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom; Leeds Gastroenterology Institute, St James' University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom.

2 Leeds Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom; Leeds Gastroenterology Institute, St James' University Hospital, Leeds, United Kingdom. Electronic address: alexf12399@yahoo.com.

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a chronic functional bowel disorder affecting 1 in 10 people and associated with poor psychological health, reduced quality of life, and increased health care expenditure.¹ The etiology is complex and incompletely understood.²Approximately one-third of patients have IBS with constipation (IBS-C),¹ for which there are licensed therapies available in the United States. We summarized comparative efficacy of these in a recent network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).³ Tegaserod, a 5-hydroxytryptamine-4 receptor agonist, approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for IBS-C, was withdrawn in 2007 after a small excess number of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular ischemic events in patients taking the drug.⁴However, since our network meta-analysis, it has been reintroduced in the United States. It is therefore important to understand its efficacy relative to other available licensed therapies for IBS-C.