Use of Feeding Tubes for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia Declining, But Racial Disparities Remain

​The proportion of U.S. nursing home residents with advanced dementia receiving feeding tubes was reduced by half between 2000 and 2014, according to a research letter published on August 16, 2016, in JAMA. This decline paralleled the emergence of research that failed to demonstrate the benefits of tube feeding in people with advanced dementia. Data were gathered from federally mandated Minimum Data Set assessments that were completed monthly on all U.S. nursing home residents between January 1, 2000, and October 31, 2015. An initial set of residents met the following criteria: Alzheimer disease or other dementia; severe cognitive impairment; not dependent for eating; and no feeding tube.