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Appropriate nutrition is important for critically ill patients. Clinical practice guidelines recommend enteral nutrition, but whether the route of nutritional support affects outcome remains controversial.
In 2003, researchers investigated the epidemiology of sepsis in Germany. They collected data prospectively, on a cross-sectional basis, from 454 ICUs in 310 hospitals. Among the 3877 patients who were screened, 415 were found to have severe sepsis or septic shock. Information about nutritional support was available for 399 such patients.
Of these 399 patients, 20.1% received only enteral nutrition, 34.6% received mixed parenteral and enteral nutrition, and 35.1% received only parenteral nutrition; 10.3% received no nutritional support. Type…