Risk Factors for Failure to Reach Total Energy Value in an Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

The objective was identify the risk factors associated with the failure to total energy value. A prospective cohort study was conducted in an intensive care unit with 87 patients receiving exclusive enteral nutrition therapy. The Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis were used to evaluate the results. Regarding the patients, 35.6% were aged between 31 and 50 years, and 58.6% were males. At the end of the third day, 70.8% reached the total recommended energy value. Postoperative patients (HR: 7.09; 95% CI: 2.02-24.81), hemodynamically unstable patients (HR: 5.97; 95% CI: 1.11-31.99) and those who were fasting for the performance of tests (HR: 4.95; 95% CI: 1.01-24.61) presented a greater risk of not reaching the recommended value. The number of patients who achieved the total energy value was adequate, but can be optimized by the evaluation of these identified factors.