The purpose of this Rapid Response Report from the Canadian Agency for Drugs and technologies in Health (CADTH) was to summarise evidence on the clinical effectiveness and safety of, and any available guidelines for, use of osmotic laxatives for the treatment of constipation in children with cystic fibrosis (CF).

The authors conducted a limited literature search (PubMed, Cochrane Library, University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) databases, ECRI (Health Devices Gold), EuroScan, international health technology agencies, and a focused Internet search).  The search was limited to English language articles published between January 1998 and December 2010.

No studies, guidelines, assessments of reviews addressing the use of osmotic laxatives specifically in the treatment of constipation in children with CF were located.  The located information regarding use of osmotic laxatives in the treatment of constipation in paediatric patients in general has been listed in the Appendix (see link below).