Prevalent clinical conditions in the elderly using home enteral nutrition therapy: a systematic review

Abstract

Home enteral nutrition therapy (HENT) is a method of nutritional support for individuals at home with functioning gastrointestinal tracts who are not able to receive food orally. The present study aimed to conduct a systematic review of the literature on the clinical conditions that lead to the use of indwelling nutrition support in the elderly. The US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health (PubMed) and Scopus databases were used to search for articles with the following keywords in English: “home enteral nutrition”, “home tube feeding”, “home enteral nutrition therapy” and “elderly”, together with Boolean operators “or” and “and”. Included in the review were articles in English and Portuguese (Brazil), published from the 2000s, clinical studies that covered the general adult population, but the sample of the elderly population was separated from the adult population. A total of 64 articles were identified in both databases, subsequently 13 duplicate articles were eliminated and the others were excluded for not meeting the inclusion criteria. Seven articles were eligible, six published in English and one in Portuguese (Brazil). Of the seven eligible articles there was a higher prevalence of neurological diseases and cancer as an indication for the use of HENT in the elderly. It is expected that further studies are conducted focusing on this population, since neurological diseases and cancer are diseases with high prevalence in this age group and can compromise the nutritional aspects and quality of life.