Protein-calorie adequacy of enteral nutrition therapy in surgical patients.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the protein-calorie adequacy of enteral nutrition therapy (ENT) in surgical patients. METHODS A prospective study was performed in surgical patients who received ENT from March to October 2011. Patients were evaluated anthropometrically and by subjective global assessment (SGA). The amount of calories and protein prescribed and administered were recorded daily, as well as the causes of discontinuation of the diet. A 90% value was used as the adequacy reference. The difference between the prescribed and administered amount was verified by Student's t-test. RESULTS A sample of 32 patients, aged 55.8 ± 14.9 years, showed a malnutrition rate of 40.6% to 71.9%, depending on the assessment tool used. Gastric cancer and gastrectomy were the most common diagnosis and surgery, respectively. Of the patients, 50% were able to meet their caloric and protein needs. The adequacy of the received diet in relation to the prescribed one was 88.9 ± 12.1% and 87.9 ± 12.2% for calories and proteins, respectively, with a significant difference (p < 0.0001) of 105.9 kcal/day and 5.5 g protein/day. 59.4% of the patients had adequate caloric intake and 56.2% had adequate protein intake. Causes of diet suspension occurred in 81.3%, with fasting for procedures (84.6%) and nausea/vomiting (38.5%) being the most frequently observed causes in pre- and postoperative periods, respectively. CONCLUSION Inadequate caloric and protein intake was common, which can be attributed to complications and diet suspensions during ENT, which may have hampered the sample reached their nutritional needs. This may contribute to the decline in the nutritional status of surgical patients, who often have impaired nutrition, as observed in this study.