SERUM-ALBUMIN IS PREDICTIVE OF 30-DAY SURVIVAL AFTER PERCUTANEOUS ENDOSCOPIC GASTROSTOMY

Background: Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes have been used since 1980 in patients who require prolonged enteral feeding. Pur pose: To identify factors associated with poor survival (defined as su rvival <30 days) post-PEG. Methods: me assessed a cohort of 64 patient s consecutively referred for a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tub e in a single, tertiary care hospital. Prior to PEG tube placement, we evaluated relevant clinical variables in each patient to determine th eir effect on 30-day mortality. Results: Of the cohort, 43 of 64 (67.2 %) survived at least 30 days after tube placement. One death was attri butable to tube placement. Bivariate analyses showed that 30-day survi val correlated directly with serum albumin (r = .253; p = .049) and in versely with creatinine (r = -0.255; p = .042). Using multivariable lo gistic regression analysis, only albumin was identified as an independ ent predictor of 30-day survival (p = .044). Eighty-three percent of p atients with a serum albumin greater than or equal to 3.0 g/dL, surviv ed 30 days compared with 58% with an albumin <3.0, a difference of 25% (95% CI, -2% to 54%; p = .07). Conclusions: In conclusion, serum albu min appears to be a predictor of early survival in individuals undergo ing percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube placement.