Rethinking tube feeding in palliative care: Impact on pneumonia, depression, and mortality in patients with dysphagia and life-limiting illness

Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez; Kelly Klein; Milan Bimali; Jessica Sanders

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0333895

Loading metrics

Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Rethinking tube feeding in palliative care: Impact on pneumonia, depression, and mortality in patients with dysphagia and life-limiting illness

Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez, Kelly Klein, Milan Bimali, Jessica Sanders

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

* E-mail: Jennifer.Hanners-Gutierrez@ttuhsc.edu

Affiliations Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America, University Medical Center (UMC) Health System, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0009-0000-4695-1002

⨯
Kelly Klein ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez, Kelly Klein, Milan Bimali, Jessica Sanders

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Family Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6616-1662

⨯
Milan Bimali ,

Contributed equally to this work with: Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez, Kelly Klein, Milan Bimali, Jessica Sanders

Roles Formal analysis, Project administration, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Biostatistics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, United States of America, Clinical Research Institute, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America
⨯
Jessica Sanders

Contributed equally to this work with: Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez, Kelly Klein, Milan Bimali, Jessica Sanders

Roles Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation University Medical Center (UMC) Health System, Lubbock, Texas, United States of America
⨯

Rethinking tube feeding in palliative care: Impact on pneumonia, depression, and mortality in patients with dysphagia and life-limiting illness

Jennifer Hanners Gutierrez,
Kelly Klein,
Milan Bimali,
Jessica Sanders

Published: October 7, 2025
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333895

Reader Comments (0)

Post a new comment on this article

Subject Areas
?

For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click here.
We want your feedback. Do these Subject Areas make sense for this article? Click the target next to the incorrect Subject Area and let us know. Thanks for your help!

Dysphagia
Is the Subject Area "Dysphagia" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Pneumonia
Is the Subject Area "Pneumonia" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Depression
Is the Subject Area "Depression" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Medical risk factors
Is the Subject Area "Medical risk factors" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Nutrition
Is the Subject Area "Nutrition" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Oral administration
Is the Subject Area "Oral administration" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Cancer risk factors
Is the Subject Area "Cancer risk factors" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.
Diagnostic medicine
Is the Subject Area "Diagnostic medicine" applicable to this article?

Thanks for your feedback.