PD181 - HOME ENTERAL NUTRITION CLINIC (HENC) IN NUMBERS: A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

PD181

HOME ENTERAL NUTRITION CLINIC (HENC) IN NUMBERS:

A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS

A. Rytter¹, M. L. Sporring^1,*, A. Hardis¹, K. B. Braad-Sørensen¹, C. H. Ø. Sørensen¹, I. Wessel^1,2

¹Clinical Nutrition Center, Department of Transplantation and Digestive Disesases, ²Department of Otolaryngology and Audiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

Rationale: Late 2023, a centralized clinic for adult patients receiving home enteral nutrition was established at Rigshospitalet as a single point of contact for patients, relatives, and professionals. The clinic provides individualized dietetic counselling, tailoring nutritional treatment to daily life at home, including guidance on appropriate feeding equipment and nutritional products. This study describes the characteristics of patients referred during the first six months of operation.

Methods: This retrospective observational study included consecutive patients referred to HENC between 1 February 2024 and 1 August 2024. Inclusion criteria were referral upon discharge with a minimum of one contact with a dietitian, either virtually or face-to-face.

Results: During the six-month study period, 91 patients were referred to the clinic; 76 had a nasogastric tube and 15 had a gastrostomy. Age at referral ranged from 20 to 90 years (median 68 years). Among the 86 patients with available historical weight data from the preceding six months, 64% had experienced weight loss (median 7.3 kg). The primary underlying diagnosis was oncological disease in 77 patients, including those undergoing active treatment, receiving palliative care, or experiencing long-term treatment-related sequelae. The remaining 14 patients had mixed medical or neurological conditions. Most feeding tubes (n=73) were placed during hospital admission (median length of stay 10 days), while 18 patients had tube placement in an outpatient setting. More than half of the referred patients had no prior contact with a dietitian before tube placement.

Conclusion: This first characterization of the patient population referred to the HENC at Rigshospitalet reflects the hospital’s highly specialized clinical profile, with a predominance of oncological patients and a substantial degree of pre-referral weight loss.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared