Registro del Grupo NADYA-SENPE de Nutrición Enteral Domiciliaria en España en el año 2008

Aim: To present the results of the Spanish home enteral nutrition (HEN) registry of the year 2008 from the NADYA-SENPE group. Material and methods: We recorded the HEN registry data from January 1 st to December 31 st 2008. Results: The number of patients registered in this period was 6206 (51% male) with up to 6,279 episodes of HEN, from 31 Spanish hospitals. Most of the patients (95%) were older than 14 yr. Mean age was 4.83 ± 3.29 yr in the children group, and 70.75 ± 18.14 yr in the adult group (older than 14 yr). Neurological disorders (39%) and cancer (27%) were the two most prevalent diagnoses. The oral route was the most frequently used (43,4%), followed by nasogastric tube (40,4%), and gastrostomy tube (14,7%). Mean length of treatment was 305,36 days (10 months). The principal reasons for discontinuing treatment were death (43%) and progress to oral diet (40%). Only 33% of the patients had a normal activity level, being limited in different grades in the rest of the patients. Most of the patients required partial (25%) or total help (38%). The enteral formula was provided by the hospital in 65% of the cases and by private pharmacies in 32%. The disposables were provided by the hospital (82,4%) and primary care services (17,2%). Conclusions: The number and the age of the patients registered have increased comparing to previous years, with little variations in the rest of analyzed variables. The increase in the length of treatment could reflect misreporting of the weaning process in the registry.