Abstract
Background: Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) is a vital therapy for patients who have the diagnosis of enterocutaneous fistula (ECF), yet little is known about how these patients are managed. This research compares nutrition management of adults with ECF as the indication for HPN therapy to those with other indications. Methods: This is an analysis of data from adult HPN patients in the Sustain registry enrolled between August 2011 and February 2014 who have the diagnosis of ECF or other indication for HPN who served as the control group. Differences between the ECF and control group were assessed by t test, analysis of variance, or χ2 as appropriate. Results: There were 141 HPN patients with ECF and 632 control patients. Patients with ECF were older (55 vs 50 years, P < .001), more frequently had a goal for future surgery (30% vs 15%, P = .010), had greater prevalence of overweight/obesity (33% vs 20%, P = .04), and had a lower serum albumin (2.98 ± 0.65 g/dL vs 3.16 ± 0.66 g/dL, P = .006) than controls. The diet order was more frequently nil per os (NPO) in patients with ECF (48% vs 22%, P < .001), and amino acid content of HPN was greater (111.90 ± 29.11 vs 102.06 ± 27.84, P < .001) than in controls. There were no differences in patterns of weight change by ECF or control groups, although underweight patients gained, normal-weight patients maintained, and overweight/obese patients lost weight and serum albumin increased similarly. Conclusions: The HPN management of patients with ECF is similar to other HPN patients other than greater provision of protein, more frequent NPO status, and a goal for future surgery.
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