Effect of high protein intake in critically ill patients requiring continuous renal replacement therapy

Abstract

Introduction: Nutritional therapy for critically ill patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) should consider the hypermetabolic status and amino acid loss due to CRRT. Objective: We conducted this retrospective study to evaluate the effect of protein intake of ≥1.5 g/kg/day during CRRT. Methods: We compared the data of 52 patients who received ＜1.5 g protein/kg/day from day 7 to day 10 (group L) with the data of 53 patients who received ＞1.5 g protein/kg/day (group H). Results: The two groups did not differ in their baseline characteristics. The CRRT purification was significantly greater in the H group than in the L group. The amount of protein received was significantly higher in the H group than in the L group after the 4th day. On the 10th day, protein intake in the H group was 1.8 g/kg and that in the L group was 1.1 g/kg (p＜0.001). The sufficiency rate for target energy was significantly higher in the H group than in the L group on the 8th and 10th day. The serum albumin level was significantly higher in the H group than in the L group on the 14th and 21st day (p＜0.05). The functional independence measure effectiveness was significantly higher in the H group than in the L group (p＜0.01). Conclusions: Our results indicated that a high protein intake of ≥1.5 g/kg/day improved the actives of daily living.