Home parenteral nutrition in pediatric patients with intestinal insufficiency

Home parenteral nutrition (HPN) has been shown to offer important benefits for pa tients and the health system. In Chile, the number of patients who are receiving this type of treatment or who could be candidates for it is unknown. Objetive: To determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients with intestinal insufficiency (II) currently receiving HPN or who are can didates for it.

Cross-sectional descriptive study which included patients aged between 0 to 18 years with diagnosis of II who were receiving parenteral nutrition (PN) for over three months, either at home or in the hospital, with a stable clinical situation and a long-term venous catheter (CVC). Through a digitalized survey, the following variables were collected and studied: gender, birth history, indication to initiate parenteral nutritional support, age of initiation of PN, type of CVC, frequency of PN, nutritional status and feeding in the last control and complications as sociated with the use of PN. Data analysis was performed using the SPSS Statistics Software, Version 21, Macintosh. The descriptive analysis considered frequency analysis and central trend measures. The Chi-square and Fisher tests were used for comparison of proportions.

Data from 46 patients were recorded. The average age was 55.5 months. The main indication for initiating the PN was the decrease of the intestinal surface (78.3%). 63% of the patients were hospitalized. No signi ficant differences were found between the place of treatment and the nutritional status and catheter infections variables in the last year.

The prevalence of patients with long-term PN and their clinical characteristics were identified. No differences were found to support the administration of this treatment in the hospital over the home. Public policies must be developed to guarantee the option of receiving this treatment at home.