The effect of continuous and intermittent enteral feeding on glucose control in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of continuous and intermittent enteral feeding on glucose control in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit. Thirty-five patients aged 18 years and over receiving enteral nutrition and who had stayed in intensive care units at least 5 days, who had no acute complications of diabetes and whose amount of drugs and enteral product have not changed in follow up were enrolled in this experimental controlled study. Two different nutrition methods were applied to the same group on different days and blood glucose levels on these days were compared. Blood glucose levels were measured using a glucometer. Individual and disease characteristics of the patients and information about the process of intensive care unit were recorded. Of the patients, 54.3% were female, 97.1% were over 61, 54.3% had respiratory failure, 85.7% were non-diabetic, 97.1% had underlying disease including hypertension and all the patients had not received insulin before they were taken into intensive care unit. All patients were at high risk of malnutrition according to MUST scale with APACHE II score of 22.1, BMI 27, insulin, one of metabolic control variables (34.5 +33) and high HbA1c (6.3 + 0.8), low albumin (2.9 +0.6). The difference between CRP and leukocyte counts during continuous and intermittent feeding was not statistically significant (p> 0.05) and glucose levels measured at 09:00, 13:00 and 17:00 in intermittent feeding were significantly lower than those of continuous feeding (p <0.05). Average daily blood glucose level (146.2 + 22.6) in intermittent feeding was significantly lower than that in continuous feeding (157.9 +25.1) (p <0.05).While the averages of intermittent eating at all measurement hours were lower for the non- diabetic group, the averages of continuous eating at hours 09-13-01 and 05 and the averages of intermittent eating at hours 17 and 21 were lower for the diabetic group; and there was no significant difference between two kinds of eating in the diabetic group in terms of daily averages (p>0.05). Keywords: Enteral feeding, continuous, intermittent, glucose monitoring.