Associação entre o perfil nutricional, via de alimentação e sintomas gastrointestinais de pacientes hospitalizados em cuidados paliativos

Abstract

Objective: To identify the gastrointestinal symptoms of patients hospitalized in palliative care and to relate to nutritional status and the feeding route used. Method: Demographic data, Body Mass Index (BMI), feeding route and gastrointestinal symptoms presented were collected from patients' medical records. Result: A total of 44 medical records of patients hospitalized under palliative care from March to June 2021 were evaluated. The mean age of the patients was 69.91 years, of which 52.27% were female and 47.73% were male. Regarding the classification of nutritional status, according to BMI, the highest incidence was of patients with low weight (43.18%), followed by eutrophic patients (36.36%). Regarding nutritional therapy, 50% were receiving enteral feeding and 29.55% were fed orally and about 20.45% received enteral feeding associated with oral feeding. Among the gastrointestinal symptoms, the highest incidences were constipation (54.55%), anorexia (36.36%), diarrhea (27.27%) and vomiting (18.18%). There was no significant association between nutritional status and gastrointestinal manifestations presented. There was a significant association between symptoms and the feeding route, such as the absence of vomiting (p = 0.0023), nausea (p= 0.0468) and hyporexia (p= 0.0113) and lower incidence of anorexia (p= 0.0003) in patients with exclusive enteral feeding. Conclusion: the presence of gastrointestinal symptoms is common in this population, multiprofessional interventions contribute to the integral care of the patient and to the decision of nutritional therapy and adequate management of symptoms.