PD066 - REAL-WORLD PRESCRIBING PATTERNS OF ORAL AND ENTERAL NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS IN HOSPITALIZED AND OUTPATIENT POPULATIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

PD066

REAL-WORLD PRESCRIBING PATTERNS OF ORAL AND ENTERAL NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS IN HOSPITALIZED AND OUTPATIENT POPULATIONS: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

M. Güngör^1,*, B. Kelleci², N. Doğancı³, P. Onar³, F. Tamer³, S. Ataç³, N. Erten³, M. Eşme¹, C. Balcı¹, S. K. Demirkan², M. Halil¹

¹Department of Internal Medicine , Divison of Geriatric Medicine, ² Division of Clinical Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, ³Clinical Nutrition Unit, Hacettepe University Hospitals, Adult Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye

Rationale: Nutritional therapy is a cornerstone of malnutrition management in clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate the use of oral nutrition supplements (ONS) and enteral nutrition (EN) across age groups, and hospital departments.

Methods: This retrospective study included all hospitalized and outpatient adults (≥18 years) who received a nutritional product prescription over a three-month period in a tertiary care center. Data on age, diagnosis codes, prescribing departments, type of nutritional support (ONS vs EN), and duration were extracted from electronic records. Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed to evaluate differences in prescribing patterns across predefined age groups (<65, 65–79, and ≥80 years) and clinical settings.

Results: A total of 1,039 patients were included (mean age 69.56 ± 16.50 years; 53.6% female). Nutritional support prescriptions were most frequently initiated in geriatric medicine (43.1%), followed by medical oncology (18.8%), emergency departments (11.5%), radiation oncology (6.3%), and neurology (4.8%). Oral nutritional support was the predominant modality (93.4%), with enteral nutrition used in a minority of patients (6.6%). Nutritional routes differed significantly between department categories (p<0.001), with higher use of enteral nutrition in acute care and neurology. No significant differences were observed in the use of nutritional routes across age groups (p=0.087).

Conclusion: In this single-center study, nutritional support was predominantly prescribed in geriatric and oncology departments, with oral supplementation as the main modality. These findings may reflect greater awareness and prioritization of nutritional care in these departments.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared