Page 114 - Effects and Efficacy of (Laparoscopic) Gastrostomy Placement in Children - Josephine Franken

ABsTRACT
Introduction: A gastrostomy placement (GP) aims to improve nutritional status and health- related quality of life (HRQoL) in children who require long-term enteral tube feeding. We evaluated the effect of GP on HRQoL.
Methods: A prospective, longitudinal cohort study was performed including patients referred for laparoscopic GP. Children and/or caregivers were asked to fill out the validated PedsQLTM questionnaire before and 3 months after surgery. The aim was to compare preoperative with postoperative HRQoL and to identify predictors of HRQoL.
Results: Fifty patients were included with a median age of 3.4 years (interquartile range 1.4- 5.6). After GP, total HRQoL did not significantly increase (p=0.30). However, psychosocial health significantly increased: 55.8 (standard deviation ±20.8) to 61.2 (±19.6; p=0.03) on a 100-point scale. This was mainly due to an increase in social HRQoL: 58.2 (±32.3) to 68.3 (±27.9; p=0.04). HRQoL both before and after GP was significantly lower in children with neurologic impairment (p<0.0005). However, neurologic impairment did not influence the effect of surgery on HRQoL (p=0.66). Low preoperative body mass index was a predictor for improvement in HRQoL after GP.
Conclusion: After GP in children, psychosocial HRQoL improved significantly. This was mainly due to an improvement in social HRQoL.
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