Enteral and supplemental parenteral nutrition enriched with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in intensive care patients - A randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial.

What this study found

Omega-3 PUFA-enriched enteral plus supplemental parenteral nutrition did not improve lung function, although it was associated with some secondary clinical benefits. PaO2/FiO2 changed by -1.3 ± 83.7 from day 1 to day 4 in the omega-3 group versus 13.1 ± 86.1 in control (p=0.7795), and no group differences were reported for day 6 lung function. The omega-3 group had more days free of catecholamine treatment (18.3 ± 9.8 vs 14.1 ± 10.9, p=0.0481) and better enteral nutrition tolerance at day 6 (51.0% vs 29.8%, p=0.0342). Mortality and adverse events were broadly similar, including 28-day…

Study & population

Randomized, controlled, double-blind clinical trial in critically ill adults in the ICU who required mechanical ventilation and nutritional support because enteral feeding alone did not meet energy needs.

Intervention

The active arm received omega-3 PUFA-enriched enteral nutrition and supplemental parenteral nutrition: Oxepa® enterally plus Nutri-flex® Omega special parenterally, with PN via central venous catheter and EN via nasogastric, duodenal, or jejunal tube.

Key limitation

The active-arm sample was modest and analysis subsets were smaller for some outcomes, which limits precision.

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