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Nutrition support and clinical outcomes following allogeneic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

Nutrition support is frequently required post allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) and while there is some evidence on the benefits of enteral nutrition (EN), parenteral nutrition (PN) is widely used in practice. The study aimed to examine the impact of EN versus PN on early outcomes following SCT. All patients who underwent allogeneic SCT over 2.5 years were included in the analysis. Data was retrospectively collected on mode of nutrition support with clinical outcome data obtained from an existing database. Clinical outcomes were compared between groups by logistic, poisson and negative binomial regression, with adjustment for baseline confounders as appropriate. Patients who received EN then changed to PN had a longer length of hospital stay compared to those who received EN only (IR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.11–1.38, p < 0.001). Compared to those who received EN only, patients who received EN that changed to PN or PN only had a longer time to neutrophil engraftment (IR 1.11, 95% CI: 1.02–1.20, p = 0.016 and IR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.03–1.30, p = 0.017) and platelet engraftment (IR 1.20, 95% CI 1.08–1.33, p < 0.001 and IR 1.24, 95% CI 1.08–1.42, p = 0.002). Enteral nutrition should be first line nutritional support for patients undergoing allogeneic SCT.

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Fig. 1: Flowchart of all patients undergoing allogeneic transplantation during data collection and mode of nutrition support provided.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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SA completed the literature review, protocol writing, ethics submissions and manuscript drafting, JX completed the data collection and manuscript drafting, SL completed the data analysis and all authors contributed to study design, manuscript review and have read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Sarah Andersen.

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Andersen, S., Xu, J., Llewellyn, S. et al. Nutrition support and clinical outcomes following allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 58, 1137–1142 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-02080-7

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