2021 Volume 3 Issue 5 Pages 272-280
Objective: The aim was to infer the association between the presence or absence of a nutritional assessment and nutritional management outcomes for critically ill patients in the ICU.
Subjects and Methods: We enrolled critically ill patients (>7 days’ stay in the ICU) from Japan in the International Nutrition Survey 2014. Patients were divided in two groups according to the presence or absence of nutritional assessment. Patient characteristics (e.g., reason for admission and BMI), nutritional management outcomes (energy and protein intake and days to start of enteral feeding), and prognostic data were compared between the two groups by univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: Of the total 329 patients enrolled, 67.7% had a nutritional assessment (assessed group). Energy intake was significantly higher in the assessed group than in the non-assessed group (median [interquartile range] 12.5 [6.2, 18.0] kcal/kg/day vs. 8.0 [2.1, 13.1] kcal/kg/day, respectively; p<0.01). The number of days to the start of enteral feeding was shorter in the assessed group than in the non-assessed group (median [IQR] 1.31 [0.75, 2.44] days vs. 2.65 [1.26, 4.05] days; p<0.01).
Conclusions: Having a nutritional assessment is associated with better nutritional management outcomes for critically ill patients in the ICU such as higher nutrition intake and early initiation of enteral feeding.
