Clinical nutrition : official journal of the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
-
Editorial Practice Guideline
ESPEN expert statements and practical guidance for nutritional management of individuals with SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The COVID-19 pandemics is posing unprecedented challenges and threats to patients and healthcare systems worldwide. Acute respiratory complications that require intensive care unit (ICU) management are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in COVID-19 patients. Patients with worst outcomes and higher mortality are reported to include immunocompromised subjects, namely older adults and polymorbid individuals and malnourished people in general. ⋯ Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malnutrition should therefore be routinely included in the management of COVID-19 patients. In the current document, the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN) aims at providing concise guidance for nutritional management of COVID-19 patients by proposing 10 practical recommendations. The practical guidance is focused to those in the ICU setting or in the presence of older age and polymorbidity, which are independently associated with malnutrition and its negative impact on patient survival.
-
Large surveys auditing feeding regimen in the ICU consistently reported hypocaloric 23 enteral feedings patterns and many studies described the association between 24 energy deficit and increased complication rate. ESPEN and ASPEN experts 25 recommend early (after 48 h) or late (after 7-10 days) catch up of the 26 energy deficit with parenteral nutrition (PN) respectively, but the level of evidence 27 was poor and larger PRCT were missing. ⋯ However, weaknesses 30 in the study design and some mixing of the 3 questions have created confusion in the 31 message delivered. In addition, the severity of the acute illness was not always similar 32 in these studies, mixing short-term acutely ill patients (less than 4 days in the ICU) 33 with long term patients (more than 10 days in the ICU).