• Leyla Ferlicolak and Neriman Defne Altintas.
• Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Intensive Care Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey. lferlicolak@gmail.com.
• Ir J Med Sci. 2024 Apr 1; 193 (2): 108510891085-1089.

BackgroundRefeeding syndrome is characterized by metabolic and electrolyte alterations that result from the initiation of feeding after a period of inadequate caloric intake. Especially, in the elderly with acute and/or chronic illness, nutritional deficiencies are common, and diminished oral intake with effects of catabolic status yields malnutrition. This study was conducted to evaluate refeeding hypophosphatemia and its consequences on outcomes in the oldest old critically ill patients.MethodsThis study was designed as a retrospective cohort study that included patients who were 80 years old or older admitted to ICU. Patients were grouped depending on whether hypophosphatemia occurred after 48 hours of admission who started feeding.ResultsThe median age of all patients was 87[82-90] years and 61(73%) of them were female. Refeeding hypophosphatemia was observed in 25(30%) patients. When patients were grouped depending on the occurrence of hypophosphatemia, groups were similar according to the severity scores, and comorbidities. Neither ICU mortality nor hospital mortality was different between groups (p=0.76 and p=0.19, respectively).ConclusionRefeeding hypophosphatemia incidence was similar to previous studies, although study patients were the highest risk group. Outcome parameters including mortality rate and length of ICU stay were not different between patients with or without refeeding hypophosphatemia.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland.

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