Skip Navigation


Age and Ageing Advance Access originally published online on August 3, 2004
Age and Ageing 2004 33(5):493-496; doi:10.1093/ageing/afh183
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
33/5/493    most recent
afh183v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dutta, D.
Right arrow Articles by Chambers, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dutta, D.
Right arrow Articles by Chambers, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Age and Aging Vol. 33 No. 5 © British Geriatrics Society 2004; all rights reserved

Research Paper

Is tube feeding associated with altered arterial oxygen saturation in stroke patients?

Dipankar Dutta2, Mira Bannerjee2 and Tara Chambers1

1 Stroke Unit, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, 2 Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Great Western Road, Gloucester GL1 3NN, UK

Address correspondence to: D. Dutta. Fax: (+44) 8454 226 979. Email: dipankar.dutta{at}gloucr-tr.swest.nhs.uk

Abstract

Background: Reduced arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) during swallowing, oral feeding and feeding tube placement has been demonstrated in stroke patients. It is not known if tube feeding causes similar episodes of arterial desaturation and whether there is a case for routine pulse oximetry during tube feeding.

Objective: To determine if tube feeding in stroke patients is associated with hypoxia.

Methods: We compared ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke patients who were NG or PEG fed with a control group of age matched non-dysphagic stroke patients who were orally fed. We excluded people already on supplemental oxygen. Pulse oximetry was performed before, during a meal (for 20 min) and for 10 min after and changes from baseline readings determined.

Results: Data were collected for 20 controls and 18 tube-fed patients. Mean age was 75 years and median time to assessment 14.5 days. The two groups were reasonably matched for age, sex, type of stroke and time to assessment, but differed significantly in the Oxfordshire Community Stroke Project (OCSP) classification and Rankin score. The mean baseline SaO2 of controls was 96.5% (SD 1.47) and that of the tube-fed group 96.0% (SD 1.46). Reduction in SaO2 from baseline during and after feeding ranged from 0.35% to 0.78% with no statistically or clinically significant differences between the two groups.

Conclusions: No clinically significant reduction in SaO2 was found in our tube-fed patients as compared to controls. Our study suggests that routine pulse oximetry during tube feeding is not necessary.

Keywords: tube feeding, oximetry, oxygen, stroke, elderly

Received January 30, 2004; accepted in revised form April 30, 2004.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Age AgeingHome page
D. Dutta, T. Wood, R. Thomas, and M. Asrar ul Haq
Is overnight tube feeding associated with hypoxia in stroke?
Age Ageing, November 1, 2006; 35(6): 627 - 629.
[Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.