Assessment of the Outcome of Refeeding Syndrome Patients Admitted to Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Background and Objective: Refeeding syndrome (RFS) is comprised of severe electrolyte disturbances and metabolic abnormalities that occur after the reinstitution of nutrition to starved patients. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was conducted on patients aged over 18 years who were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Taleghani and Emam hospitals in Urmia, Iran, during the first half of 2017. The included participants had the ICU stay of more than 48 h, were kept on nil per os, and were under nutritional support. The patients’ serum levels of phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium were measured on the 1st, 3rd, and 7th days of hospital stay. The frequency of RFS, hypophosphatemia, hypomagnesemia, hypokalemia, and the short-term outcomes of patients were obtained and compared. The patients with acute and chronic renal failure, cancer, previous gastrointestinal and hepatic diseases, and electrolyte disorder were excluded from the study. Results: The mean length of ICU stay and duration of mechanical ventilation were 35 and 28.5 days, respectively. The frequency of mortality among the patients was 36.96% (n=95). Furthermore, RFS, hypophosphatemia, hypokalemia, and hypomagnesemia had the frequencies of 13.23%, 25.7%, 21.4%, and 37.7%, respectively. There were significant differences between the patients with RFS and those without RFS in terms of the body mass index, duration of mechanical ventilation, ICU length of stay, and mortality (P<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, despite the differences of our findings with those of the literature, the frequency of electrolyte disturbances during the onset of re-feeding was within an acceptable range.

Keywords

• electrolyte disturbances
• nutritional support
• refeeding syndrome