RESUMO
. The complications of enteral nutrition in medical wards. INTRODUCTION: The effects of Enteral Nutrition (EN) in patients unable to feed themselves have been widely explored although studies in low-/mean- intensity words are lacking. AIM: To measure the prevalence of EN side effects in medical wards and to explore their risk factors. Metodi. Observational, retrospective study on matched patients. All patients in the medical departments of the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Senese were enrolled (81 cases and 162 controls) from 1 August 2018 to 1 September 2019, aged over 50 years and hospitalized for longer than 4 days. The NE side effects such as diarrhea, vomiting, gastric stagnation and abdominal pain were collected from clinical records The presence of EN, age of patients, mobilization and use of antibiotics during hospitalization were considered risk factors. RESULTS: The prevalence of diarrhea, vomiting, gastric and abdominal pain ranged from 4.9% to 11.1%. The EN was not a significant risk factor for the onset of gastrointestinal disorders, and these complications were always lower than in the controls. Vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain were more frequently, though not significantly, associated to antibiotic treatments; the age of subjects significantly predicted the diarrhea, showing a protective effect with the age increase. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows a low prevalence of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain compared to the literature. These symptoms were not significantly associated to the EN, that cannot be considered a risk factor.