Comparison of Different Early Enteral Feeding Formulas on Critically Ill Patients

Critically ill patients are physiologically unstable, often have complex hypermetabolic responses to trauma. These patients are facing a high risk of death, multi-organ failure, and prolonged ventilator use. Nutrition is one of therapy for critical illness, however, patients often experience malnutrition caused by disease severity, delays in feeding, and miscalculation of calorie needs. The study aims to evaluate clinical improvement in critically ill participants that were given 3 kinds of early enteral feeding formulas, which were control (5% Dextrose), high-protein polymeric, or oligomeric formulas. A total of 55 critically ill participants admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) between October 2017-March 2018 and assigned in this controlled trial. Early enteral feeding was initiated within 24-48 h after ICU admission. Each enteral feeding group were categorized to traumatic brain injury (TBI) or non-TBI. The primary endpoints were changes in white blood cell count, Acute Physiologic and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, and Nutrition Risk in the Critically Ill (NUTRIC) score from baseline to day 3. Baseline characteristics were similar between control (n=22), high-protein polymeric (n=19) and oligomeric (n=14) groups. There were significant decreases for white blood cell count (13,262.5±6,963.51 to 11,687.5±7,420.92; p=0.041), APACHE II score (17.33±3.31 to 13.83±1.95; p=0.007), and NUTRIC scores changes (3.08±1.44 to 1.92±1.00; p=0.022) in non-TBI participants receiving highprotein polymeric compared those in control or oligomeric participants. But there is no significant clinical improvement in TBI patients. In conclusion, non-TBI patients benefit from early enteral feeding with high-protein polymeric formula.