Práctica de la nutrición enteral en pediatría

Abstract

Introduction: Enteral nutrition is the most used form of nutritional support. In the last years there has been an increased use of enteral nutrition both in the inpatients as well as in the outpatient scenario. Nevertheless they are quite different clinical conditions, despite the fact of using the same technique and products. The aim of the study was to describe the characteristics, the differences and the influence in the nutritional status. Subjects and methods: 124 pediatric patients with home enteral nutrition from 1995 to 2013 were analyzed retrospectively and 50 patients with enteral nutrition while in hospital in a 4-month-period were analyzed prospectively. Descriptive statistics for the study of the two populations and inference analysis for comparison between the two (Student-t test or x2, depending on variables) and a comparison of repeated measures for the study of the nutritional status along time was used, through the SPSS 15.0 statistical program. Statistical significance was based on p-values <0.05. Results: In the home enteral nutrition population the mean age at the start of treatment was 2.48 years. The main diseases were the gastrointestinal and neurological diseases. The average duration was 33.29 months, while the type of access and the most used product were e nasogastric tube and a polymeric formula respectively. An improvement of the nutritional status was observed, at least in weight. In the hospitalized patients the mean age at the start was 1.29 years, the main indication was a respiratory disease. The average duration was 1.12 months; most patients used a nasogastric tube and the most used products were breastmilk and a polymeric formula. An improvement of the nutritional status was not obtained in this population. Conclusions: 1) In spite of using the same type of enteral access and products, patients' characteristics, mean age at start and outcomes from a nutritional status point of view, were very different between both populations. 2) Home enteral nutrition contributed to the improvement of the nutritional status, whereas the enteral nutrition in hospital did not.