Rapid Outpatient Tube Weaning Linked to Frequent Adverse Events in Children

A retrospective, record-based cohort study published in Acta Paediatrica evaluated a multidisciplinary outpatient tube-weaning programme based on hunger provocation and rapid tube feed reduction. The study included 49 children, mostly with underlying somatic diseases, who participated at a tertiary paediatric hospital between 2016 and 2023. The primary outcome was complete tube weaning; secondary outcomes included changes in oral feeding skills and adverse effects.

By programme completion, 65% of children achieved complete weaning and 92% showed improved oral feeding. At a median follow-up of 2.4 years, 69% were reported to remain fully weaned. Children with neurodevelopmental diseases benefited least. Adverse effects occurred in 49%, most commonly hypoglycaemia (37%) and dehydration (31%). Lower initial oral feeding skills were associated with reduced weaning success and more hypoglycaemic events. Children experiencing adverse effects, particularly hypoglycaemia, were less likely to achieve complete weaning.

The findings support individualized feed reduction, monitoring and careful patient selection rather than assuming rapid outpatient weaning is uniformly safe. The small, retrospective, single-centre cohort limits causal interpretation and generalizability. Only the abstract was available for this report, limiting assessment of programme procedures and adverse-event severity.