Impact of early enteral nutrition on short term prognosis after acute stroke

Publication date: Available online 14 July 2015 Source:Journal of Clinical Neuroscience Author(s): Tianheng Zheng , Xinpu Zhu , Huazheng Liang , Haixia Huang , Jiandao Yang , Shaoshi Wang We hypothesized that early enteral nutritional support would improve the short term prognosis of acute stroke patients with dysphagia, demonstrated by lower malnutrition rates, lower complication rates, and lower National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores at 90days post stroke. Nutrition support is an essential element in the care of stroke patients and many studies have investigated the effect of specific nutritional elements on stroke patients. However, few studies have looked at the impact of complete enteral nutrition on Chinese patients with acute stroke. To investigate this, we conducted a randomized controlled trial of 146 patients with acute stroke and dysphagia, among whom 75 were supported with nasogastric nutrition and 71 received family managed nutrition after randomization. Nutritional status, nosocomial infection and mortality rates were recorded on day 21 of hospitalization. Neurological deficits were evaluated by the NIHSS activities of daily living Barthel index (ADLBI) and the modified Rankin scale (mRS) and compared between the two groups. We found that the nasogastric nutrition group had a better nutritional status and reduced nosocomial infection and mortality rates after 21days compared with patients in the family managed nutrition group. In add...
Source: Journal of Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research