Does intermittent nutrition enterally normalise hormonal and metabolic responses to feeding in critically ill adults? A protocol for the DINE-Normal proof-of-concept randomised parallel-group study.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Over half of patients who spend >48 hours in the intensive care unit (ICU) are fed via a nasogastric (NG) tube. Current guidance recommends continuous delivery of feed throughout the day and night. Emerging evidence from healthy human studies shows that NG feeding in an intermittent pattern (rather than continuous) promotes phasic hormonal, digestive and metabolic responses that are important for effective nutrition. It is not yet known whether this will translate to the critically ill population. Here, we present the protocol for a proof-of-concept study comparing diurnal intermittent vs continuous feeding on hormonal and metabolic outcomes for patients in the ICU.

Methods and analysis

The study is a single-centre, prospective, randomised, open-label trial comp

SUBMITTER: Beattie CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11590799 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature