Abstract

ROJAS-JARA, Amira Mabel; CACERES-MARTINEZ, Mariela Elizabeth; JOY, Laura  and  MORINIGO-MARTINEZ, Macarena. Complications during enteral support of elderly adults in a referral hospital. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2017, vol.15, n.3, pp.35-40. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2017.015(03)35-040.

The elderly correspond to a population that is vulnerable to complications during hospitalization, and complications may appear during enteral support. The objective was to identify gastrointestinal, infectious and mechanical complications during enteral support in hospitalized older adults. A crossed-sectional descriptive study was carried out using the medical records of adults aged 60 and above who had indication of enteral nutritional support and hospitalized for any pathology at the Dr. Gerardo Buongermini Geriatric Hospital from IPS. Complying with the estimated sample about size, 48 medical records were analyzed and information aboutdemographic and clinical data, support and complications, was collected. The median age was 82.5 years, 54.2% were women, 72.9% of the patients were hospitalized in the medical clinic area. Fifty two point one percent presented some type of complication during enteral support, the frequency of complications was as follows: gastrointestinal (60%), infectious (44%) and mechanical complications (20%). Diarrhea (10/11) was the main gastrointestinal complication, the broncoaspiration (8/11) among complications infectious, and the only mechanical complication was the removal of the catheter. All patients (4/4) with craft formula or mixed formula had complications and these were more frequent in patients with bolus administration and y continuous infusion. In conclusion about half of older adults presented some type of complications during enteral support.

Keywords : elderly; enteral support; complications; institutionalized..

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