Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) logoLink to British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.)
. 1983 Nov 26;287(6405):1589–1592.

Benefits of supplementary tube feeding after fractured neck of femur: a randomised controlled trial.

M D Bastow, J Rawlings, S P Allison
PMCID: PMC1549800  PMID: 6416514

Abstract

A total of 744 elderly women with fractured neck of femur were classified into three groups according to anthropometric measurements on admission: group 1, well nourished; group 2, thin; group 3, very thin. Group 1 ate well and had a low mortality and a short rehabilitation time. The thinner the patients the lower their voluntary food intake, the higher their mortality and the longer their rehabilitation time. A series of 122 patients from groups 2 and 3 were entered postoperatively into a randomised controlled trial of overnight supplementary nasogastric tube feeding (4.2 MJ (1000 kcal), including 28 g protein) in addition to their normal ward diet. This treatment was associated with improvements not only in anthropometric and plasma protein measurements but also in clinical outcome, especially in the very thin group 3 patients. Rehabilitation time and hospital stay were shortened. Mortality in group 3 was less in the tube fed patients (8%) than in the controls (22%) but this difference did not reach statistical significance. One in five patients could not tolerate the nasogastric tube, but in the remainder the treatment caused no side effects and did not seriously diminish voluntary oral food intake by day.

Full text

PDF
1589

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ASHWORTH N., CREEDYS, HUNT J. N., MAHON S., NEWLAND P. Effect of nightly food supplements on food intake in man. Lancet. 1962 Oct 6;2(7258):685–687. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(62)90502-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Banerjee A. K., Brocklehurst J. C., Wainwright H., Swindell R. Nutritional status of long-stay geriatric in-patients: effects of a food supplement (Complan). Age Ageing. 1978 Nov;7(4):237–243. doi: 10.1093/ageing/7.4.237. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bastow M. D., Rawlings J., Allison S. P. Undernutrition, hypothermia, and injury in elderly women with fractured femur: an injury response to altered metabolism? Lancet. 1983 Jan 22;1(8317):143–146. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(83)92754-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Carpentier Y. A., Barthel J., Bruyns J. Plasma protein concentration in nutritional assessment. Proc Nutr Soc. 1982 Sep;41(3):405–417. doi: 10.1079/pns19820055. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Copeland E. M., Dudrick S. J. Nutritional aspects of cancer. Curr Probl Cancer. 1976 Sep;1(3):1–51. doi: 10.1016/s0147-0272(76)80009-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Heatley R. V., Williams R. H., Lewis M. H. Pre-operative intravenous feeding--a controlled trial. Postgrad Med J. 1979 Sep;55(646):541–545. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.55.646.541. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hessov I. B. Detecting deficient energy and protein intake in hospital patients: a simple record method. Br Med J. 1978 Jun 24;1(6128):1667–1668. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6128.1667. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Holter A. R., Fischer J. E. The effects of perioperative hyperalimentation on complications in patients with carcinoma and weight loss. J Surg Res. 1977 Jul;23(1):31–34. doi: 10.1016/0022-4804(77)90186-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Moore P. J., Clark R. G. Colloid osmotic pressure and serum albumin following surgery. Br J Surg. 1982 Mar;69(3):140–142. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800690307. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Mullen J. L., Buzby G. P., Matthews D. C., Smale B. F., Rosato E. F. Reduction of operative morbidity and mortality by combined preoperative and postoperative nutritional support. Ann Surg. 1980 Nov;192(5):604–613. doi: 10.1097/00000658-198019250-00004. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sagar S., Harland P., Shields R. Early postoperative feeding with elemental diet. Br Med J. 1979 Feb 3;1(6159):293–295. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6159.293. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Shetty P. S., Watrasiewicz K. E., Jung R. T., James W. P. Rapid-turnover transport proteins: an index of subclinical protein-energy malnutrition. Lancet. 1979 Aug 4;2(8136):230–232. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(79)90241-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Vir S. C., Love A. H. Anthropometric measurements in the elderly. Gerontology. 1980;26(1):1–8. doi: 10.1159/000212387. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Woolfson A. M., Saour J. N., Ricketts C. R., Pollard B. J., Hardy S. M., Allison S. P. Prolonged nasogastric tube feeding in critically ill and surgical patients. Postgrad Med J. 1976 Nov;52(613):678–682. doi: 10.1136/pgmj.52.613.678. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Yeung C. K., Young G. A., Hackett A. F., Hill G. L. Fine needle catheter jejunostomy--an assessment of a new method of nutritional support after major gastrointestinal surgery. Br J Surg. 1979 Oct;66(10):727–732. doi: 10.1002/bjs.1800661015. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal (Clinical research ed.) are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES