A Retrospective Study of Complications of Enteral Feeding in Critically Ill Children on Noninvasive Ventilation

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 15; no. 12; p. 2817
• Main Authors: Sierra-Colomina, Montserrat, Yehia, Nagam Anna, Mahmood, Farhan, Parshuram, Christopher, Mtaweh, Haifa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.06.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Blood pressure; Child; Children; Complications; Complications and side effects; critical care; Critical Illness - therapy; Disease susceptibility; Enteral feeding; Enteral nutrition; Enteral Nutrition - adverse effects; Heart rate; Hospital patients; Hospitals; Humans; Intensive care; Intensive care units; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; Intubation; Length of stay; Mortality; noninvasive ventilation; Noninvasive Ventilation - adverse effects; Nosocomial infections; Nutrition; Oxygen; Oxygen content; Oxygen saturation; Patients; pediatric; Pediatrics; Respiration; Respiratory diseases; Respiratory failure; Respiratory tract diseases; Retrospective Studies; Risk factors; Ventilators; Canada; United States > US; enteral nutrition; critical care; respiratory failure; noninvasive ventilation; pediatric
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu15122817

The utilization of noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs), to support children with respiratory failure and avoid endotracheal intubation, has increased. Current guidelines recommend initiating enteral nutrition (EN) within the first 24-48 h post admission. This practice remains variable among PICUs due to perceptions of a lack of safety data and the potential increase in respiratory and gastric complications. The objective of this retrospective study was to evaluate the association between EN and development of extraintestinal complications in children 0-18 years of age on NIV for acute respiratory failure. Of 332 patients supported with NIV, 249 (75%) were enterally fed within the first 48 h of admission. Respiratory complications occurred in 132 (40%) of the total cohort and predominantly in non-enterally fed patients (60/83, 72% vs. 72/249, 29%; < 0.01), and they occurred earlier during ICU admission (0 vs. 2 days; < 0.01). The majority of complications were changes in the fraction of inspired oxygen (220/290, 76%). In the multivariate evaluation, children on bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) (23/132, 17% vs. 96/200, 48%; odds ratio [OR] = 5.3; < 0.01), receiving a higher fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO ) (0.42 vs. 0.35; = 6; = 0.03), and with lower oxygen saturation (SpO ) (91% vs. 97%; = 0.8; < 0.01) were more likely to develop a complication. Time to discharge from the intensive care unit (ICU) was longer for patients with complications (11 vs. 3 days; = 1.12; < 0.01). The large majority of patients requiring NIV can be enterally fed without an increase in respiratory complications after an initial period of ICU stabilization.