Abstract
BACKGROUND: Home enteral nutrition (HEN), including tube feeding and oral supplementation, can improve or worsen quality of life (QoL). The specific assessment of factors affecting QoL may identify the inherent problems associated with HEN. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the validated NutriQoL® questionnaire is useful for assessing the QoL and the factors influencing it in patients receiving HEN. METHODS: A total of 78 patients receiving HEN completed both the NutriQoL and the SF-12 questionnaires during their routine visits to nutrition service at the hospital. RESULTS: Ninety percent of patients receiving HEN had cancer, 58% received oral supplements, and 42% received tube feeding. At recruitment, the mean score ± SD of the NutriQoL was 66 ± 14, whereas that of the SF-12 was 40 ± 9. A positive correlation between NutriQoL and SF-12 scores (ρ = 0.5; P < .001) was found. Multivariate analysis showed that HEN type (oral vs tube) (odds ratio [OR], 5.6; 95% CI 2.0-15.3; P = .001) and the absence of secondary effects (OR, 3.0; 95% CI, 1.2-7.9; P = .024) were both variables explaining NutriQoL results adjusted by sex and age. The SF-12 results did not show associations with nutrition factors. On visit 2, we observed significant improvements in NutriQoL results. CONCLUSION: The NutriQoL questionnaire identifies specific problems that affect the QoL of patients receiving HEN, whereas SF-12 does not. The route of entry and the occurrence of complications influence specific QoL. NutriQoL is a useful tool to identify the factors that worsen the QoL in patients receiving HEN.