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Demented patients may refuse to eat as they come closer to the end of their lives. We evaluated the effectiveness of enteral nutrition in the improvement of survival and nutritional and functional status in very dependent and demented long-term care (LTC) elderly patients and its correlation with the nutritional parameters.

Fifty-seven elderly patients, aged 60 years and older, who received nutrition by the enteral route (enteral nutrition group, ENG), were compared with 110 age-, sex-, comorbibity-, cognitive-, and dependent-matched subjects (control group, CG). Indications for enteral nutrition, type of tube; weight status subsequent to enteral nutrition; cognitive, functional, and pressure sore status; and complete clinical, complete blood count, and biochemical profile were recorded for each subject on initiation and conclusion of the study.

Enteral nutrition was …