Introduction: A gastrostomy placement (GP) is an established treatment to provide enteral feeding in pediatric patients with feeding difficulties aiming to improve nutritional status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The aim of this study was to evaluate HRQoL in children with severe feeding difficulties who have undergone GP.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was performed including 128 patients who had undergone laparoscopic GP (2004-2011). HRQoL was evaluated using the validated Pediatric Quality of Life 4.0 Inventory. Multiple regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of HRQoL.
Results: After a mean follow-up of 4.0 years (interquartile range 2.9-6.2) after GP, mean HRQoL was 53.0 out of 100 (standard deviation 21.1). HRQoL was significantly lower in children with neurologic impairment, with a mean difference of -21.4 points between neurologically impaired and neurologically normal children (p < 0.001). HRQoL was also lower in children with cardiac disease (-19.0 points; p = 0.01) and in children with a history of previous gastrointestinal surgery (-15.2 points; p = 0.03). Feeding through a gastrojejunostomy tube (-33.0 points; p = 0.01) and higher age at the time of operation (-1.2 points per year; p = 0.03) were also associated with lower HRQoL. GP-related complications requiring reintervention were associated with lower HRQoL, although this association was not statistically significant (p = 0.06).
Conclusions: Children with severe feeding difficulty, who have undergone GP, have significantly lower HRQoL compared to a healthy pediatric population. Neurologic impairment, cardiac disease, a history of gastrointestinal surgery, older age, and the need for jejunal feeding through the gastrostomy were predictive of even lower HRQoL.
Keywords: Gastrostomy; Laparoscopic gastrostomy; Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; Quality of life.