The effectiveness of intermittent nasogastric feeding on enteral nutrition of critical patients: a Meta-analysis

Objective To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of intermittent nasogastric feeding on enteral nutrition of critical patients. Methods The relevant randomized controlled trials were searched in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, JBI Library and the databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Scientific Journal Database by VIP (VIP), Wanfang Database. The studies were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria by two reviewers. Meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan 5.2. Results Nine RCTs were included involving 558 patients. The results of meta-analysis showed that intermittent nasogastric feeding was greater than continuous pump feeding in the incidence of constipation, OR=0.32, 95%CI 0.14~0.71, P 0.05) . Conclusions Intermittent nasogastric feeding and continuous pump feeding did not affect the incidence of diarrhea, aspiration pneumonia, gastric residuals, vomiting, abdominal distension and the effects of nutrition. However, the incidence of constipation was significantly less in patients receiving intermittent nasogastric feeding. Key words: Intubation, gastrointestinal; Meta-analysis; Enteral nutrition