Enteral Nutrition Practices in Children with Cancer admitted into a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit and Clinical Outcomes

Background: and Aim: Delays in both the prescription of, as well as interruptions in the administration of ENT, have been widely investigated. The most common reasons for damage in the nutritional impairment in children in a PICU are the presence of gastrointestinal disorders, together with medical and nursing procedures. This study aims to describe enteral nutrition practices in children with cancer and to evaluate the factors related to clinical outcomes, hospitalisation time (HT) and mechanical ventilation time (MVT), in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of an Oncological Treatment Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Method: It is a retrospective longitudinal study, with children that were admitted into the PICU during 2013. Those children who had been diagnosed with a malignancy, aged 1 to 18 years, HT > 72 h, as well as with the use of enteral nutrition therapy (ENT) during their hospitalisation in the PICU, were included in the study. The controlled variables were severity, age, caloric deficiencies, cumulative proteins, gastrointestinal symptoms and the early initiation of ENT. The odds ratios between the exposure factors were estimated with a confidence interval (CI) of 95% and a significance level of p < 0.05. Results: The study selected 54 patients; the median age was 8.02 (2.35–12.79) years. The cumulative deficiencies of calories and proteins were 21.5 (14.0–29.6) kcal / kg / day and 0.60 (0.33–0.97) g / kg / day, respectively. Diarrhoea and younger age and the cumulative caloric deficiencies were HT predictors. Abdominal distention and younger age were associated with a higher MVT. Conclusions: Changes in the gastrointestinal tract, with evaluation of the cumulative caloric deficiencies in critically ill children with cancer, should be monitored more continuously, as well as with the impact of these variables on the HT and MVT outcomes.