Probiotics can reduce the healthcare cost of constipation in older people

Constipation is one of the leading chronic conditions facing older patients in nursing homes. Probiotics can improve gut health as a supplement to conventional treatment – but the financial benefit of their use has been unclear. This has now been investigated in a nursing home setting. After calculating the efficacy of probiotics and total costs, results show that a nursing home can save money in annual constipation-related expenses when supplementing residents with daily probiotics.