Enteral nutrition in the elderly in Intensive Care Unit: prevalence and associated factors

• Autor(a) principal: Graciano,Rodrigo Damião Maia
• Data de Publicação: 2008
• Outros Autores: Ferretti,Renata Eloah de Lucena
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Geriatrics, Gerontology and Aging (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://ggaging.com/details/322
• topic: Elderly, enteral nutrition, Intensive Care Unit, associated factors.

<p><b>INTRODUCTION:</b> Aging is associated with increased incidence of certain diseases, especially nutritional changes of fundamental importance to maintain a good nutritional intake for people in critical situation.<br> <b>OBJECTIVES:</b> This study aimed at determining the prevalence of enteral nutrition in elderly patients, as well as the factors associated. The data were collected from medical records of elderly hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit. Sample consisted hospitalized elderly in the ICU, 53.9% were females and 46.1% males, with average age of 76.97 years (± 8.8 DP) for women and 74.92 (± 8.4 DP) for men.<br> <b>RESULTS:</b> It was found a prevalence of 40% of enteral nutrition. The most frequent reason for hospitalization was respiratory failure (7.72%; p &lt; 0,001), the most prevalent type of tube feeding was the nasoenteral one (95.8%; p &lt; 0,001). Among the patients who were dischargerd from the ICU, 81.4% left with the tube feeding. Concerning complications accidental loss of tube feeding was present in 3.6% of cases (p &lt; 0.001). The lengh of tube feeding was higher among men (p &lt; 0.018). The use of a tube is associated with longer time of hospitalization in the ICU: 5 days to 7 days for women and men (p &lt; 0.001).<br> <b>CONCLUSION:</b> The use of enteral nutrition is common in elderly patients hospitalized in critical care unit. As proper nutrition is crucial for recovery, nursing plays an important role in the maintenance and control of possible complications of this method.</p>