Survey of nil per os duration of patients admitted to the emergency department due to vomiting

Wen Chieh Yang, Yu Jun Chang, Ya Chun Lin, Chun Yu Chen, Yi Chin Peng*, Han Ping Wu*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

During the acute phase of vomiting, even a small amount of water may not be tolerated by mouth. Early refeeding may cause revomiting in patients, whereas late refeeding may result in dehydration and hypoglycemia. Nil per os (NPO) may be generally recommended by primary physicians, but the appropriate NPO duration for these patients is still unclear. The study aimed to identify the ideal NPO duration for patients with acute vomiting. We prospectively recruited patients with vomiting who underwent NPO management and were administered antiemetic agents in the emergency department (ED) and the pediatric ED. The demographics, final diagnosis, clinical manifestations, medical management, NPO duration, and laboratory data were collected and analyzed to identify the ideal NPO duration A total of 304 patients with vomiting who were admitted in the ED were enrolled. The major diagnosis was acute gastroenteritis (AGE) (82.9%), followed by acute gastritis and colitis. Most patients were younger than 6 years (43.8%). Apart from abdominal pain and vomiting, nausea was the most common symptom (93.1%). NPO duration of 4 to 6hours had the lowest rate of refeeding failure (3.7%) compared to the other NPO durations. For patients with acute vomiting who are admitted to the ED, NPO duration of 4 to 6hours may be necessary and should be recommended by primary ED physicians. Abbreviations: AGE = acute gastroenteritis, ED = emergency department, IM = intramuscular, IV= intravenous, IVF = intravenous infusion, NPO = nil per os, SD = standard deviation.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere15087
JournalMedicine (United States)
Volume98
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Acute gastroenteritis
  • Duration
  • NPO
  • Nil per os
  • Vomiting

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