Objectives: Evaluate the practice of providing enteral nutrition in critically ill children requiring noninvasive positive pressure ventilation.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: PICU within a quaternary care children's hospital.
Patients: PICU patients older than 30 days requiring noninvasive positive pressure ventilation for greater than or equal to 24 hours from August 2014 to June 2015. Invasive mechanical ventilation prior to noninvasive positive pressure ventilation and inability to receive enteral nutrition at baseline were additional exclusionary criteria.
Interventions: None.
Measurements and main results: The primary outcome was enteral nutrition initiation within 24 hours of admission. Secondary outcomes included time to goal enteral nutrition rate, adequacy of nutrition, adverse events (pneumonia not present at admission, intubation after enteral nutrition initiation, feeding tube misplacement), and lengths of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation and PICU stay. Among those included (n = 562), the median age was 2 years (interquartile range, 39 d to 6.8 yr), 54% had at least one chronic condition, and 43% had malnutrition at baseline. The most common primary diagnosis was bronchiolitis/viral pneumonia. The median length of time on noninvasive positive pressure ventilation was 2 days (interquartile range, 2.0-4.0). Most (83%) required continuous positive airway pressure or bi-level support during their PICU course. Sixty-four percent started enteral nutrition within 24 hours, with 72% achieving goal enteral nutrition rate within 72 hours. Forty-nine percent and 44% received an adequate cumulative calorie and protein intake, respectively, during their PICU admission. Oral feeding was the most common delivery method. On multivariable analysis, use of bi-level noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (odds ratio, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.25-0.63) and continuous dexmedetomidine (odds ratio, 0.59; 95% CI, 0.35-0.97) were independently associated with decreased likelihood of early enteral nutrition. Twelve percent of patients had at least one adverse event.
Conclusions: A majority of patients requiring noninvasive positive pressure ventilation received enteral nutrition within 24 hours. However, less than half achieved caloric and protein goals during their PICU admission. Further investigation is warranted to determine the safety and effectiveness of early enteral nutrition in this population.