Incidence and Outcomes of Home Parenteral Nutrition in Patients With Crohn Disease in Olmsted County, Minnesota

BACKGROUND: We sought to estimate the incidence of home parenteral nutrition (HPN) use in a population-based cohort of patients with Crohn disease (CD), and to assess clinical outcomes and complications associated with HPN. METHODS: We used the Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP) to identify residents of Olmsted County, who were diagnosed with CD between 1970 and 2011, and required HPN. RESULTS: Fourteen out of 429 patients (3.3%) with CD received HPN (86% female). Eleven patients (79%) had moderate–severe CD and 12 patients (86%) had fistulizing disease. Thirteen patients (93%) underwent surgery, primarily due to obstruction. Among CD incidence cases, the cumulative incidence of HPN from the date of CD diagnosis was 0% at 1 year, 0.5% at 5 years, 0.8% at 10 years, and 2.4% at 20 years. Indications for HPN included short bowel syndrome in 64%, malnutrition in 29%, and bowel rest in 21%. The median duration of HPN was 2.5 years. There was an average weight gain of 1.2 kg at 6 months, an average weight loss of 1.4 kg at 1 year, and a further weight loss of 2.2 kg at 2 years from the start of HPN. Patients were hospitalized a mean of 5 times after the start of HPN, mainly due to catheter-related bloodstream infections and thrombosis. CONCLUSIONS: Less than 4% of patients with CD need HPN. Most have moderate to severe disease with short bowel syndrome or malnutrition. Possible reasons for the patients’ weight loss could be noncompliance, and increased metabolic needs because of active disease.