Nutrición hospitalaria : organo oficial de la Sociedad Española de Nutrición Parenteral y Enteral
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Description of the nutritional support in an intensive care unit. REFERENCE POPULATION: Patients hospitalized in our ICU over a period of 48 months (October 1994-September 1998). ⋯ In our unit we used nutritional support in 31% of the non coronary patients, and these presented a greater severity, longer hospitalization, and higher mortality than those patients who did not require this. The beginning of the nutritional support is relatively early. The gastrointestinal complications derived from enteral nutrition are very common, with a predominance of gastric retention. In 25% of the critical patients who begin enteral nutrition, this fails, and thus they require parenteral nutrition.