Table 7

Relationships between presence of G/J tube and frequency & distress for symptoms present at baseline in 275 children with progressive, non-curable conditions

Symptom*	Frequency			p Value†	Distress			p Value†
	G/J tube present	No	Yes		G/J tube present	No	Yes
Respiratory or breathing problems (n=125)	Almost never	2	3		None or a little bit	7	9
	Sometimes	20	39	0.84	Somewhat	16	25	<0.05
	Most of the time	18	42		A lot	10	46
	Unsure/can't tell	0	1		Unsure/can't tell	6	4
Pain (n=148)	Almost never	1	3		None or a little bit	4	1
	Sometimes	31	39	0.36	Somewhat	27	37	<0.05
	Most of the time	19	41		A lot	20	49
	Unsure/can't tell	7	7		Unsure/can't tell	6	4
Feeding difficulties (n=129)	Almost never	3	8		None or a little bit	13	13
	Sometimes	13	22	0.86	Somewhat	19	20	<0.05
	Most of the time	32	49		A lot	12	39
	Unsure/can't tell	1	1		Unsure/can't tell	5	8
Constipation (n=127)	Almost never	3	4		None or a little bit	6	5
	Sometimes	17	31	0.89	Somewhat	17	19	0.16
	Most of the time	28	44		A lot	23	43
	Unsure/can't tell	0	0		Unsure/can't tell	2	10
Alertness and interaction changes (n=93)	Almost never	3	1		None or a little bit	12	16
	Sometimes	27	30	0.25	Somewhat	13	9	0.25
	Most of the time	8	19		A lot	10	15
	Unsure/can't tell	2	2		Unsure/can't tell	5	13
Sleep (n=134)	Almost never	3	3		None or a little bit	13	21
	Sometimes	19	20	0.51	Somewhat	3	25	0.37
	Most of the time	33	55		A lot	20	27
	Unsure/can't tell	0	1		Unsure/can't tell	9	6
Seizures (n=109)	Almost never	4	5		None or a little bit	7	15
	Sometimes	20	25	0.62	Somewhat	13	15	0.44
	Most of the time	16	33		A lot	18	24
	Unsure/can't tell	3	3		Unsure/can't tell	4	12

Numbers reported as frequency.
*Sample size for each symptom is the number of times parents reported on frequency or distress of a symptom for their child at baseline.
†χ² tests used for all comparisons.