Route of nutrition has no effect on the development of infectious complications

Infection is a serious complication of nutritional support, causing a high rate of mortality and morbidity. Critically ill patients having nutritional support are prone to infectious complications. Questions regarding the effects of the route of nutrition in infectious complications have been asked. We aimed to determine the relationship between the route of nutrition and the risk of developing infectious complications in severely ill patients on nutritional support in an intensive care unit.

A retrospective review was performed on the files of 144 severely ill patients who had either enteral or parenteral nutrition during follow-up in an intensive care unit. The primary diagnoses of patients were heterogenous.

Sixty-eight (35.8%) of them acquired novel infections during the hospitalization period. Forty-nine and 19 of the 68 infected patients had enteral and parenteral nutrition support, respectively. Seventy-six (40%) of the patients were free of infection. Fifty-one of 76 infection-free patients had enteral nutrition support, and 25 of them had parenteral nutrition support. Pulmonary infections, urinary tract infections, catheter infections and septicemia were the most frequent types of infectious complications. There was no significant difference in the rate of infectious complications between enteral nutrition and parenteral nutrition groups (p > 0.05).

We conclude that the route of the nutritional support in severely ill patients having nutritional support in an intensive care unit does not affect the rate of infectious complications. We think that comorbid medical conditions and the need of intensive care unit support are more important parameters that determine the risk of development of infectious complications.