Clinicians often focus on meeting energy needs in ICU patients to improve outcomes. However, a new study, Clinical Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients Associated With Protein Delivery published in JPEN suggests that meeting protein needs provides better outcomes.
“Outcomes research in critically ill patients suggests a link between the amount of energy received and mortality; however, few studies have examined outcomes related to protein delivery.” The study’s purpose was to evaluate the impact of actual protein delivery on mortality and time to discharge alive in critically ill patients using data from the International Nutrition Survey 2013. The authors hypothesized that greater protein delivery would be associated with lower mortality and shorter time to discharge.
The study concluded, “When adjusting for protein intake, they could not demonstrate any significant relationship with energy intake and outcome and that achieving at least 80% of protein goals may be important to survival and may shorten time in the hospital in critically ill patients. Efforts to achieve goal protein intake should be maximized as a key goal of feeding in such patients and may be more important than optimizing energy intake.”
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