Nutritional support and outcomes in critically ill patients after one week in the intensive care unit

Abstract

Objective: This study evaluated therelationship between nutritional intake and protein and caloric requirements and observed clinical outcomes on the 7th day of intensive care unit stay. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 126 patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit for =7 days. The patients were categorized according to the adequacy of energy and protein intake in relation to requirements (a =60% Adequate Intake Group and a 60% Inadequate Intake Group). The length of stay, ventilator free time and mortality in the intensive care unit and hospital were evaluated. Results: Enteral nutrition was used in 95.6% of the 126 included patients, and nutrition was initiated 41 hours after admission to the intensive care unit. The adequacy of intake was 84% for energy and 72.5% for protein. No differences in the length of stay [16 (11- 23) versus 15 (11-21) days, p=0.862], ventilator free time [2 (0-7) versus 3 (0- 6) days, p=0.985] or mortality in the intensive care unit [12 (41.4%) versus 38 (39.1%), p=0.831] and hospital [15 (51.7%) versus 44 (45.4%), p=0.348] were observed between the adequate and inadequate energy intake groups, respectively. Similar results in protein intake and the length of hospital stay [15 (12-21) versus 15 (11-21) days, p=0.996], ventilator free time [2 (0- 7) versus 3 (0-6) days, p=0.846], and mortality in the intensive care unit [15 (28.3%) versus 35 (47.9%), p=0.536)] and hospital [18 (52.9%) versus 41 (44.6%), p=0.262] were observed between groups. Conclusion: The results did notestablish that energy and protein intakes of greater or less than 60% of nutritional requirements were reliable dividers of clinical outcomes.