Nutritional Prescription in ICU Patients: Does it Matter?

Background: The nutritional status of the patients before critical illness and nutrition support given during the critical illness play an important role in the recovery. We aimed to evaluate the nutritional prescription and its effect on ICU mortality.

Materials and methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted after institutional ethical committee approval (IEC 94/2018, CTRI/2018/06/014625) in a case-mixed (medical and surgical) ICU. Patients admitted to the ICU were enrolled within 24 hours of admission. The amount of calories and proteins prescribed and received by the patients was collected for 7 days. The primary outcome was ICU mortality.

Results: A total of 100 patients were included. The mean age was 48.63 (16.25) years, and 62% were males. The acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA), and modified Nutric (mNUTRIC) scores were comparable between the two groups. The ICU mortality was 30%. The calorie and protein deficits were comparable between survivors and non-survivors. Among the secondary outcomes, a significant time effect (p = 0.013) and interaction effect (p = 0.004) were noted for maximum glucose levels. The glucose variability calculated by coefficient of variation (CV) was significantly higher in non-survivors than survivors (p = 0.031).

Conclusion: The calorie and protein deficits did not affect ICU mortality. The maximum glucose variability and CV were significant parameters associated with ICU mortality.

How to cite this article: Havaldar AA, Selvam S. Nutritional Prescription in ICU Patients: Does it Matter? Indian J Crit Care Med 2024;28(7):657-661.