Early Enteral Nutrition in Geriatric Burn Patients: Is There a Benefit?

An investigation of early enteral nutrition provision in major burn patients in Australia and New Zealand

AIMS

Early enteral nutrition (provided within 24 h of admission) is the optimal form of nutritional support for major burn injuries. The aim of this study was to (i) audit early enteral nutrition practices, (ii) identify characteristics of patients who received early enteral nutrition, and (iii) investigate whether early enteral nutrition was associated with in-hospital outcomes.

METHODS

An analysis of prospectively collected data from the Burns Registry of Australia and New Zealand was conducted. Specifically, this study focused on major burns patients (defined as burns affecting more than 20% and 15% total body surface area for adult paediatric patients, respectively) admitted to a specialist burn service between 1 July 2016 and 30 June 2019.

RESULTS

Data from 474 major burns patients (88 paediatric patients) revealed 69% received early enteral nutrition. Paediatric patients who received early enteral nutrition were younger than their counterparts who did not receive the same support (p = 0.04). Adult patients who received early enteral nutrition sustained larger burns (p < 0.001). Early enteral nutrition was not associated with in-hospital mortality following major burn injury in adult patients in either unadjusted (p = 0.77) or confounder-adjusted (p = 0.69) analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately two-thirds of patients with major burn injuries received early enteral nutrition. Early enteral nutrition was not associated with in-hospital mortality following major burn injury. Further research should focus on modifiable reasons why major burns patients do not receive enteral nutrition within 24 h of admission.

Nutrition therapy in the older critically ill patients: A scoping review

Introduction: There is a lack of guidelines or formal systematic synthesis of evidence for nutrition therapy in older critically ill patients. This study is a scoping review to explore the state of evidence in this population. Method: MEDLINE and Embase were searched from inception until 9 February 2022 for studies that enrolled critically ill patients aged ≥60 years and investigated any area of nutrition therapy. No language or study design restrictions were applied. Results: Thirty-two studies (5 randomised controlled trials) with 6 topics were identified: (1) nutrition screening and assessments, (2) muscle mass assessment, (3) route or timing of nutrition therapy, (4) determination of energy and protein requirements, (5) energy and protein intake, and (6) pharmaconutrition. Topics (1), (3) and (6) had similar findings among general adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Skeletal muscle mass at ICU admission was significantly lower in older versus young patients. Among older ICU patients, low muscularity at ICU admission increased the risk of adverse outcomes. Predicted energy requirements using weight-based equations significantly deviated from indirect calorimetry measurements in older vs younger patients. Older ICU patients required higher protein intake (>1.5g/kg/day) than younger patients to achieve nitrogen balance. However, at similar protein intake, older patients had a higher risk of azotaemia. Conclusion: Based on limited evidence, assessment of muscle mass, indirect calorimetry and careful monitoring of urea level may be important to guide nutrition therapy in older ICU patients. Other nutrition recommendations for general ICU patients may be used for older patients with sound clinical discretion. Keywords: Critical care nutrition, geriatric patients, intensive care medicine, older adults, scoping review

Nutritional Intervention Facilitates Food Intake after Epilepsy Surgery

Background: We investigated whether nutritional intervention affected food intake after epilepsy surgery and if intravenous infusions were required in patients with epilepsy. We hypothesized that postoperative food intake would be increased by nutritional intervention. The purpose of this study was to compare postoperative food intake in the periods before and after nutritional intervention. Methods: Between September 2015 and October 2020, 124 epilepsy surgeries were performed. Of these, 65 patients who underwent subdural electrode placement followed by open cranial epilepsy surgery were studied. Postoperative total food intake, rate of maintenance of food intake, and total intravenous infusion were compared in the periods before and after nutritional intervention. Results: A total of 26 females and 39 males (age range 3–60, mean 27.1, standard deviation (SD) 14.3, median 26 years) were enrolled. Of these, 18 females and 23 males (3–60, mean 28.2, SD 15.1, median 26 years) were in the pre-nutritional intervention period group, and eight females and 16 males (5–51, mean 25.2, SD 12.9, median 26.5 years) were in the post-nutritional intervention period group. The post-nutritional intervention period group showed significantly higher food intake (p = 0.015) and lower total infusion (p = 0.006) than the pre-nutritional intervention period group. Conclusion: The nutritional intervention increased food intake and also reduced the total amount of intravenous infusion. To identify the cut-off day to cease the intervention and to evaluate whether the intervention can reduce the complication rate, a multicenter study with a large number of patients is warranted.