Body Weight and Body Mass Index in Patients with End-Stage Cystic Fibrosis Stabilize After the Start of Enteral Tube...

Enteral tube feeding (ETF) is widely used in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and end-stage lung disease, but previous studies have been limited to investigating whether ETF improves outcomes in patients with moderately or mildly impaired pulmonary function.

This study investigated body weight, body mass index (BMI; calculated as kg/m²), pulmonary function, and the presence of CF-related diabetes before and after the start of ETF.

This was a retrospective observational study.

Data from 26 adult patients in an outpatient setting who had end-stage CF (19 women) and had been using ETF for at least 6 months between 2000 and 2014 were analyzed.

Body weight, BMI, pulmonary function (forced expiratory volume in 1 second as percent of predicted) and incidence of CF-related diabetes from 6 months before to 6 months after starting ETF.

Time effects were tested with one-way analysis of variance for data that were normally distributed and the Friedman test for non-parametric data. Correlations were tested with Pearson's r or Spearman's ρ, depending on the distribution of the data.

Mean body weight increased by 3.5 kg (95% CI 2.2 to 4.8 kg) after patients started ETF. In women, mean BMI decreased by 0.7 in the 6 months before the start of ETF (P<0.05) and increased by 1.4 in the 6 months thereafter (P<0.05). In men, BMI changes were similar (-0.8 and +1.1), but not statistically significant. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second as percent of predicted significantly decreased in time from a median of 28% to 26% at the start of ETF to 25% after 6 months (P=0.0013), with similar trends in women and men. There was no correlation between changes in weight and lung function. CF-related diabetes was already present in 12 patients and developed in 1 more patient after the start of ETF.

ETF improved body weight and BMI but not pulmonary function in 26 patients with end-stage CF. Clinical outcomes were similar in women and men, but the sample size of men was too small to determine statistical significance.