Akihiko Hirao1, Keiichi Abe2, Keiko Takayama3, Keiko Kondo4, Osamu Yokota5, Yoshiki Sato6, Taizo Norikiyo7, Soichiro Sato8, Tadao Nakashima9, Hideki Hayashi10, Kenji Nakata11, Hiroyuki Asaba12, Kazuyoshi Tanaka13, Ritsuho Tanaka14, Yumi Morisada15, Hisakazu Itakura16, Hajime Honda17, Nobuyuki Okabe18,19, Etsuko Oshima18, Seishi Terada18. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Kawada Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 2. Department of Psychiatry, Mannari Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 3. Department of Psychiatry, Kibogaoka Hospital, Tsuyama, Japan. 4. Department of Psychiatry, Sekizen Hospital, Tsuyama, Japan. 5. Department of Psychiatry, Kinoko Espoir Hospital, Kasaoka, Japan. 6. Department of Psychiatry, Yura Hospital, Tamano, Japan. 7. Department of Psychiatry, Setouchi Kinen Hospital, Setouchi, Japan. 8. Department of Psychiatry, Zikei Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 9. Department of Psychiatry, Sanyo Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 10. Department of Psychiatry, Hayashi Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 11. Department of Psychiatry, Taiyo Hills Hospital, Takahashi, Japan. 12. Department of Psychiatry, Kohnan Hospital, Tamano, Japan. 13. Department of Psychiatry, Koyodai Hospital, Maniwa, Japan. 14. Department of Psychiatry, Kurashiki Jinpu Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan. 15. Department of Psychiatry, Kurashiki Shinkeika Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan. 16. Department of Psychiatry, Okayama Psychiatric Medical Center, Okayama, Japan. 17. Department of Psychiatry, Okayama Hidamarino-Sato Hospital, Okayama, Japan. 18. Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan. 19. Department of Psychiatry, Makibi Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan.
Abstract
AIM: Artificial nutrition, including tube feeding, continues to be given to dementia patients in numerous geriatric facilities in Japan. However, the clinical characteristics of patients receiving artificial nutrition have not been fully investigated. Therefore, we tried to evaluate the clinical features of those patients in this study. METHODS: Various clinical characteristics of all inpatients at 18 of 20 psychiatric hospitals in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, with a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube, nasogastric tube, or total parenteral nutrition were evaluated. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-one patients (5.4% of all inpatients) had been receiving artificial nutrition for more than 1 month, and 187 (130 women, 57 men; 84.6% of 221 patients) were fully investigated. The mean age was 78.3 years old, and the mean duration of artificial nutrition was 29.8 months. Eighty-four patients (44.7% of 187 patients) were receiving artificial nutrition for more than 2 years. Patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 78) formed the biggest group, schizophrenia (n = 37) the second, and vascular dementia (n = 26) the third. CONCLUSION: About one-fifth of the subjects receiving artificial nutrition were in a vegetative state. More than a few patients with mental disorders, including schizophrenia, also received long-term artificial nutrition. We should pay more attention to chronic dysphasia syndrome in mental disorders.
AIM: Artificial nutrition, including tube feeding, continues to be given to dementiapatients in numerous geriatric facilities in Japan. However, the clinical characteristics of patients receiving artificial nutrition have not been fully investigated. Therefore, we tried to evaluate the clinical features of those patients in this study. METHODS: Various clinical characteristics of all inpatients at 18 of 20 psychiatric hospitals in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, with a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube, nasogastric tube, or total parenteral nutrition were evaluated. RESULTS: Two hundred twenty-one patients (5.4% of all inpatients) had been receiving artificial nutrition for more than 1 month, and 187 (130 women, 57 men; 84.6% of 221 patients) were fully investigated. The mean age was 78.3 years old, and the mean duration of artificial nutrition was 29.8 months. Eighty-four patients (44.7% of 187 patients) were receiving artificial nutrition for more than 2 years. Patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 78) formed the biggest group, schizophrenia (n = 37) the second, and vascular dementia (n = 26) the third. CONCLUSION: About one-fifth of the subjects receiving artificial nutrition were in a vegetative state. More than a few patients with mental disorders, including schizophrenia, also received long-term artificial nutrition. We should pay more attention to chronic dysphasia syndrome in mental disorders.