فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Appropriate nutritional support is effective on achievement of expectedoutcomes in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Although several studies have suggesteddifferent conclusions about the effectiveness of tube feeding methods, there is no specificprogram of nutritional support for patients who have been hospitalized. There is a possibilityfor complications due to an inadequate nutrition. The aim of our study is to compare the effectsof enteral feeding through the bolus and continuous methods on blood sugar and prealbuminlevel among the ICU inpatients. Materials and Methods: Fifty subjects were selected byconvenient sampling from April to Aug 2013 in the ICU wards of Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran,and randomly assigned to study and control groups in this clinical trial. The subjects in thestudy group received infusion pump feeding while the control group received bolus feeding for72 h. Blood sugar was checked for every 4 h for 72 h and the prealbumin level was assessed onthe first and the fourth day in two groups. Results: In the study group, the mean blood sugarsignificantly decreased on the fourth day, compared with the first (P = 0.03, F = 3.85) andthird (P = 0.01, F = 3.15) day. In the control group, the mean blood sugar increased from thefirst day. It was significantly higher in the control group on the second day (P = 0.02, F = 3.55),compared with the study group. In the study group, there was a significant difference in themean prealbumin before and after intervention (P = 0.048, t = 1.97), but no significant differencewas observed in the control group. There was a significant difference between two groups afterintervention (P = 0.04, t = 2.05). Conclusion: The obtained results showed that supportivenutrition through a continuous method had an effect on critical patients’ blood sugar controland made a better nutritional status for these patients through an increase of prealbumin level.Positive effects of this feeding method can result in appropriate outcomes for patients’ recoveryand reduce the complications.