Background and Purpose:
Stroke guidelines recommend time-limited trials of nasogastric feeding prior to placement of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes. We sought to describe timing of PEG placement and identify factors associated with early PEG for acute ischemic stroke.
Methods:
We designed a retrospective observational study to examine time to PEG for ischemic stroke admissions in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2001-2011. We defined early PEG placement as 1-7 days from admission. Using multivariable regression analysis, we identified the effects of patient and hospital characteristics on time to PEG.
Results:
We identified 34,623 admissions receiving a PEG from 2001-2011, 53% of which received the PEG early. Among hospitals placing ≥10 PEG tubes, median time to PEG for individual hospitals ranged from 3 days to over 3 weeks (interquartile range: 6-8.5 days). Older adult age groups were associated with early PEG placement (≥85 years vs. 18-54 years: Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.68, 95% CI 1.50-1.87). Those receiving a PEG tube and tracheostomy were less likely to receive the PEG early (vs. no tracheostomy; AOR 0.27, 95% CI 0.24-0.29), and these patients were more often younger compared to PEG only recipients (
Figure
). Those admitted to high volume hospitals were more likely to receive their PEG early (≥350 vs. <150 hospitalizations; AOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.17-1.35).
Conclusions:
More than half of PEG recipients received their surgical feeding tube within 7 days of admission. The oldest old, who may be the most likely to benefit from time-limited trials of nasogastric feeding, were most likely to receive a PEG early.
Timing of Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke
