Abstract

Objective: Malnutrition is an important problem that increases mortality and morbidity in hospitalized patients. If enteral nutrition is expected to be long-term, gastrostomy and jejunostomy should be preferred. In our study, we aimed to examine the nutritional-related complications of patients with nutritional osteomy.

Methods: Patients followed by Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine Adult Hospital, Clinical Nutrition Unit and fed from gastrostomy or jejunostomy were included in the retrospective study. The clinical demographic information of the patients, indications for feeding ostomy and ostomy methods were evaluated. Nutrition-related complications were divided into three as gastrointestinal, mechanical and metabolic.

Results: A total of 404 patients were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 70 (18-94) and 187 (46.3%) were women. Three hundred fourty seven (85.9%) patients were fed from gastrostomy and 57 (14.1%) patients from jejunostomy. Diarrhea was observed in 36 (8.9%) patients, aspiration pneumonia in 19 (4.7%) patients, vomiting in 13 (3.2%) patients, and regurgitation in 13 (3.2%) patients. The rate of ostomy infection is 5.9%, and the rate of refeeding syndrome is 12.5%. In multivariate regression analysis, weight [OR=0.967, 95% CI:0.938-0.996; P = .027] and COPD [OR=4.889, 95% CI:1.754-13.63; P = .002] was associated with ostomy infections, independent of all other parametric values. Age [OR=1.040, 95% CI: 1.007- 1.073; P = .016], weight [OR=0.959, 95% CI: 0.928-0.992; P = .014] and dementia [OR=3.535 95% CI: 1.302-9.597; P = .013] are also associated with refeeding syndrome, independent of all other causes.

Conclusion: As a result, close follow-up and early treatment of nutrition-related complications is a priority in patients fed through ostomy.

Keywords: Enteral, Feeding jejunostomy, Malnutrition, Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; Refeeding syndrome.