Does Tube Feeding Prevent Aspiration Pneumonia?
This is pneumonia caused by sucking mouth bacteria into the windpipe and lungs. The authors found no published studies suggesting that tube feeding can reduce the risk of aspiration pneumonia. • Does Tube Feeding Prevent Consequences of Malnutrition? People with inadequate nutrition often lose weight and muscle mass. The authors found some evidence of benefit is some studies but patients still deteriorated in those outcome measures. Furthermore, tube feeding had no effect in wasting diseases such as AIDS and cancer in which a metabolic derangement is believed to cause wasting, not calorie deficiency. • Is Survival Improved by Tube Feeding? This is at the core of most arguments for tube feedings: without it, patients would “starve to death.” The authors found no published studies suggesting that tube feeding can prolong survival in demented patients who were unable to swallow normally. • Are Pressure Ulcers Prevented or Improved by Tube Feeding? Skin ulcers commonly occur in end stage d