title: Heterogeneity of patients receiving artificial nutrition in Japanese psychiatric hospitals: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kawada Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirao
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mannari Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kibogaoka Hospital, Tsuyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sekizen Hospital, Tsuyama, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kinoko Espoir Hospital, Kasaoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Yokota
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yura Hospital, Tamano, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Setouchi Kinen Hospital, Setouchi, Japan.
authors.forename: Taizo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Norikiyo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Zikei Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Soichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Sanyo Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Hayashi Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Taiyo Hills Hospital, Takahashi, Japan.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakata
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kohnan Hospital, Tamano, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asaba
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Koyodai Hospital, Maniwa, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kurashiki Jinpu Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan.
authors.forename: Ritsuho
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kurashiki Shinkeika Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan.
authors.forename: Yumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morisada
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Okayama Psychiatric Medical Center, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hisakazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Itakura
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Okayama Hidamarino-Sato Hospital, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hajime
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.|Department of Psychiatry, Makibi Hospital, Kurashiki, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okabe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Etsuko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Seishi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Terada
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000628:therapy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D007441:Intubation, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010288:Parenteral Nutrition / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; dementia; nasogastric tube; percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy; schizophrenia; total parenteral nutrition