Efficacy and Safety of Lactulose and Polyethylene Glycol in the Treatment of Constipation: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Studies have shown that polyethylene glycol may be more effective than lactulose in certain cases. For instance, a study found that polyethylene glycol is more effective in treating constipation in children. In addition, although no safety issues were found for polyethylene glycol and lactulose in this study, attention should still be paid to the potential adverse reactions of these drugs. We searched PubMed, Web of Science and Embase for relevant studies published in English from database inception to April 2023. In this study, all statistical analyses were performed using Stata 15 software. The I 2 statistic was used to assess heterogeneity between studies. A total of 6 articles with a combined sample size of 657 were included in the final analysis. The meta-analysis indicated that polyethylene glycol treatment was equally effective compared to lactulose in terms of bowel frequency, with a pooled treatment effect of 4 3 % (95 % CI 0.34-0.52). Significant heterogeneity was found among the studies included for this analysis (I 2 =99 %; p<0.001). Polyethylene glycol on fecal consistency was 1.29 (95 % CI 0.55-3.05). There was no heterogeneity among the studies used in this analysis (I 2 =0 %; p=0.96). The treatment effect of polyethylene glycol on bloating and flatulence was 0.54 (95 % CI 0.35-0.84). There was mild heterogeneity among the studies used for this analysis (I 2 =51.8 %; p=0.101). The treatment effect of polyethylene glycol for abdominal pain was 0.59 (95 % CI 0.41-0.86) compared to lactulose. There was no heterogeneity among the studies used for this analysis (I 2 =44.3 %; p=0.127). Polyethylene glycol for abdominal pain was 0.59 (95 % CI 0.41-0.86) compared to lactulose. There was no heterogeneity among the studies used for this analysis (I 2 =44.3 %; p=0.127). This study suggests that both polyethylene glycol and lactulose have equally good efficacy in treating constipation and can be used as alternative medications.