Tu1361 Personalizing the Choice of Bowel Preparation Laxative for Your Patients: Results of Public Taste Tests

Personalizing the Choice of Bowel Preparation Laxative for Your Patients: Results of Public Taste Tests Adeyinka O. Laiyemo*, Clinton Burnside, Maryam a. Laiyemo, Jeanette Owusu, Orighomisan Pessu, Folabomi Ajanaku, Xiaolu Xu, John Kwagyan, Rehana Begum, Andrew K. Sanderson Department of Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington DC, DC; Howard University Cancer Center, Washington, DC; Department of Biological Sciences, Howard University College of Arts and Sciences, Washington, DC; Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translations Science, Howard University, Washington, DC Background: Lack of tolerability of bowel preparation laxative is a major barrier to uptake of colonoscopy for colorectal cancer screening among the underserved populations, and newer FDA approved products are typically not covered by their healthcare insurance. However, “palatability is in the taste buds of the taster”. Aim: To determine whether demographic and lifestyle characteristics of underserved populations can be used as predictors of taste preference for bowel preparation laxative to personalize the choice of laxative to be prescribed for colonoscopy screening. Methods: We conducted three public taste tests among an underserved population in Washington DC using commercially procured (A) unflavored polyethylene glycol (PEG), (B) orange flavored PEG and (C) Moviprep which is a lemon flavored laxative. Volunteers completed baseline questionnaires, tasted the laxatives in randomly assigned order and ranked the laxatives as 1st , 2nd, and 3rd based on their taste preferences. Our outcomes are the number of 1st place ranking for each laxative preparation. We used logistic regression models to compare the characteristics of volunteers who chose each laxative as 1st to the rest of the volunteers and calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: A total of 380 volunteers participated in the taste tests: mean age 64.9 years (range 18 83 years), 55.7% female, 87.6% black, 53.4% had college education, 34% earn less than $25,000 per year, 34.9% obese, 31.5% with history of smoking, and 62% drink alcohol. The taste sequence was 35.3% ABC, 32.1% BCA and 32.6% CAB.Flavored PEG was ranked as 1st by 64.2% of volunteers (n 244) followed by Moviprep 25% (n 95) and unflavored PEG 10.8% (n 41). Overall, no characteristic predicted the choice of flavored PEG. However, college graduates were more likely to choose Moviprep (OR 1.95; 95%CI: 1.02-3.72) but volunteers who were 50 years and older were more likely to chose unflavored PEG (OR 2.67; 95% CI: 1.02-7.01) when compared to younger volunteers in our multivariate models. There was a suggestion that volunteers who drink alcohol were less likely to choose Moviprep (OR 0.66; 95% CI: 0.38-1.18). Conclusion: Although college graduates preferred Moviprep, advancing age was associated with preference for less flavoring.