Early versus Delayed Feeding after Percutaneous Endoscopic Gastrostomy Placement in Children: A Meta-Analysis

Early feeding after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) placement is an accepted practice in the treatment of adult patients and the knowledge is clinically extrapolated in the treatment of children. To verify this treatment in children—as there are some specific features of PEG-related practices in children—the present study aimed to review meta-analyses of early feeding (within 4 h) after PEG placement in children. We searched the PubMed database for articles published until July 2020. A quality assessment was performed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation method. Three randomized controlled trials (208 patients) were eligible for inclusion. No patients died within 72 h. Early feeding resulted in little to no difference in the length of hospital stay (mean difference [MD] −7.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] −25.16 to 10.21; I(2) = 95%) and vomiting events (risk ratio 0.84, 95% CI 0.55 to 1.31; I(2) = 0%). In a subgroup analysis, early feeding without antibiotics reduced the length of hospital stay in one study (MD −21.60, 95% CI −22.86 to −20.34) but early feeding with antibiotics did not affect the length in two studies (MD 0.28, 95% CI −6.49 to 7.06; I(2) = 0%). Overall, the certainty of the evidence was not very high. In summary, early feeding after PEG placement may be a safe alternative to delayed feeding in children. The findings in children seemed similar to those in adults, while there is a need for further studies that specifically investigate PEG placement-related practices in children.