The Effects of Endoscopy-Guided Nasojejunal Feeding Tube Placement in Post-COVID-19 ICU Patients: A Retrospective...

The impact of complications and long-term outcomes remains unclear for endoscopy-guided nasojejunal feeding tube (ENFT) placement versus blind nasogastric feeding tube (BNFT) placement on post-COVID-19 ICU patients.

A retrospective cohort study comparing BNFT and ENFT placement in ICU patients post-COVID-19 infection.

To evaluate the impact of BNFT versus ENFT placement methods on complications in post-COVID-19 ICU patients requiring enteral feeding.

A total of 310 ICU patients were retrospectively analyzed after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, comprising 99 patients in the ENFT group and 211 patients in the BNFT group.

The study was conducted in the intensive care units of a tertiary care hospital from September 2023 to November 2023.

Primary outcomes included baseline clinical characteristics and symptoms prior to COVID-19 infection. Secondary outcomes assessed post-COVID-19 complications over short (up to 2 weeks), medium (2-4 weeks), and long-term (beyond 4 weeks) periods. These complications included shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction, muscle and joint pain, sleep disturbances, and gastrointestinal symptoms, measured by GSRS and SAQ scores.

Baseline characteristics were similar between both groups (p > 0.05), indicating well-matched cohorts. Post-COVID-19, the ENFT group exhibited significantly lower rates of shortness of breath, cognitive dysfunction, muscle and joint pain, sleep disturbances, and mental health challenges, especially for long-term feeding tube usage (p < 0.05). GSRS scores were lower and SAQ scores were higher in the ENFT group, indicating better gastrointestinal and cardiovascular outcomes.

ENFT placement is associated with fewer post-COVID-19 complications compared to BNFT, particularly for patients requiring long-term feeding tube usage in the ICU.