The study population included elders (aged 60 and over)
of both genders that had a primary diagnosis of degenerative
dementia that was made according to validated diagnostic
criteria such as DSM-IV (15) or ICD-10 (1). Where data were
limited, studies that involved one group of dementia patients
were also considered. Specific studies involving Home Enteral
Nutrition (HEN) outcomes in demented patients are rare, but
the retrieved article reference list was also searched focusing on
more recent publications. The study selection criteria involved
screening the citations by one of the review authors (ALRS).
Following screening, the full texts of eligible citations were
assessed for inclusion by the two review authors. Whenever
the abstract met the inclusion criteria and the full text was
not retrieved, the whole article was ordered to the Federal
University Library. If this strategy was not successful, the
main author was contacted via e-mail. If any differences of
opinion existed, they were resolved by consensus between the
authors. For the observational studies, methodological quality
was evaluated using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment
Scale for Cohort Studies
the exposed cohort, non-exposed cohort selection, exposure
ascertainment and demonstration that the outcome of interest
was not present at start of study), 2) cohorts comparability
on the basis of design or analysis, and 3) outcome (including
outcome assessment, whether follow-up was long enough
for outcome and cohort follow-up adequacy) (16). A total of
9 stars could be attributed to the studies; if they counted for
more than 6 stars, they were considered to be good quality (17).
Table 1 presents the methodological quality assessment of the
considered articles; one may conclude that 78% (7 in 9) of the
publications presented a satisfactory evaluation.