The influence of psychiatric comorbidities on the duration of compulsory nasogastric tube feeding of children and adolescents with restrictive eating disorders

The authors' clinical experience found that some patients required the intervention of compulsory nasogastric tube feeding for a significantly longer amount of time than others. The aim of this study was to identify whether different psychiatric comorbidities are associated with different durations of nasogastric tube feeding under restraint in children and young people with restrictive eating disorders. A retrospective case-note analysis was conducted in 2018. Data were collected from electronic medical records and hospital incident forms, focusing on diagnosis, length of stay and on the number of episodes of nasogastric tube feeding under restraint. A total of nine patients required nasogastric tube feeding under restraint, of which four patients had psychiatric comorbidities (emerging emotionally unstable personality disorder, autism spectrum disorder and complex trauma). Length of stay was not significantly greater in patients with psychiatric comorbidities (median=302 vs 241 days, Mann-Witney U=16.00, P=0.20). However, the number of episodes of nasogastric tube feeding under restraint was significantly greater in those with psychiatric comorbidities (median=31.00 vs 2 episodes, Mann-Whitney U=20.00, P=0.02) than those without. This study suggests that psychiatric comorbidities are associated with more prolonged episodes of nasogastric tube feeding under restraint and therefore patients with these comorbidities will have greater treatment planning needs.