March 2025, Volume 3, Issue 3

Author

Nikhar Somani, Navpreet Kaur Batth, Nikita Beri, Pulkit Jindal and Mukul Kansal

Abstract

Background: Nutritional support plays a crucial role in the care of critically ill patients, requiring careful consideration to ensure the optimal method of delivery for nutrient absorption. Any kind of illness whether acute (e.g. infections, trauma) or chronic leading to inflammation can trigger catabolism dur to stress causing elevation in metabolic rate and nutrient breakdown. It leads to higher morbidity and mortality by involving various critical organs at the same time such as respiratory failure and cardiac arrhythmias. Malnutrition can be seen as a common phenomenon in paediatric age group especially in paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients often increasing the patient's stay, further impacting recovery. Aim: Evaluating the impact of enteral nutrition on pediatric outcomes in PICU patients: a study of morbidity and mortality effects. Discussion: Various studies have linked malnutrition among PICU patients to longer hospital stays, extended mechanical ventilation and poor clinical outcomes. Achieving full nutritional support in PICU patients is now recognized as a critical marker of effective PICU management. Factors such as minimizing feeding interruptions, presence of a dedicated dietitian, the use of a post-pyloric route, and early initiation of feeding have all been shown to improve enteral protein delivery. Conclusion: This study was conducted on children aged 1 to 18 years in the PICU of a tertiary care hospital. Among the total patients enrolled in the study, full feeds were not achieved in 71 cases (57.3%), while 53 patients (42.7%) successfully attained full feeds.