Epidemiology of Interruptions to Nutrition Support in Critically Ill Children in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Background : Nutrition support is often delayed or interrupted. The aim of this study is to identify reasons for and quantify time spent without nutrition in a mixed medical‐surgical‐cardiac pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). Methods : Data were prospectively collected to describe the patient cohort (anthropometrics and diagnostic category) and nutrition practices (time to nutrition initiation; frequency, duration, and causes of interruptions; and overall caloric intake). Descriptive statistics were used; comparisons of groups were performed using an independent t test and P < .05 as significance. Results : The mean (standard deviation) time to nutrition initiation was 22.8 (16.6) hours following admission; 35% of patients were initiated after >24 hours. Nutrition was interrupted 1.2 (2.0) times per patient. Time spent without nutrition due to interruptions was 11.6 (23.0) hours, up to 102 hours. Patients spent 42.4% (28.2%) of their median (range) PICU admission of 2.9 days (0.25–39 days) without any form of nutrition. Patients aged 0–6 months had a significantly higher mean number and duration of interruptions ( P = .001 and P < .001, respectively) compared with children >6 months. Interruptions due to surgery and planned extubation lasted significantly longer than all other interruptions ( P < .001 and P = .001, respectively). Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) III scores were not correlated with percentage of length of stay spent without nutrition ( r = 0.137). Conclusions : Prolonged time to nutrition initiation and interruptions in delivery caused pediatric patients to spend a high proportion of admission without nutrition support, preventing most from meeting energy requirements. Further research addressing specific patient outcomes is required to define optimal initiation times and appropriate procedural‐specific fasting times.