SynthesisCritical care (London, England)2014
The effect of glutamine therapy on outcomes in critically ill patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Critical care (London, England), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 26 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect and safety of nutritional supplements on clinical outcomes in patients with acute pancreatitis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Nutrition journal · 2026Pooled it
- Glutamine Supplementation in Intensive Care Patients: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials.Medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Standard vs. Calorie-Dense Immune Nutrition in Haemodynamically Compromised Cardiac Patients: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2017Trial
- Effects of immunonutrition on biomarkers in traumatic brain injury patients in Malaysia: a prospective randomized controlled trial.BMC anesthesiology · 2017Trial
- Protein nutritional support in critically ill patients: pathophysiological basis, clinical evidence, and areas of uncertainty - a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Risk Factors and Predictors of Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation Following Cardiac Surgery: A Narrative Review.Cureus · 2024Review
- Review
- [Immunomodulation by nutritional intervention in critically ill patients].Die Anaesthesiologie · 2023Review
- Difficult Respiratory Weaning after Cardiac Surgery: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Application strategy and effect analysis of nutritional support nursing for critically ill patients in intensive care units.Medicine · 2022Article
- L-Glutamine and Physical Exercise Prevent Intestinal Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Without Improving Gastric Dysmotility in Rats with Ulcerative Colitis.Inflammation · 2021Article
- Review
- Article
- L-glutamine protects mouse brain from ischemic injury via up-regulating heat shock protein 70.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2019Article
- Effects of Early Enteral Glutamine Supplementation on Intestinal Permeability in Critically Ill Patients.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2019Review
- A 'metabolic bundle' including Oxandrolone in optimising the metabolic status of severely burn injured patients: a retrospective analysis of the first 50 patients.GMS Interdisciplinary plastic and reconstructive surgery DGPW · 2019Article
- Practice Guidelines for Nutrition in Critically Ill Patients: A Relook for Indian Scenario.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2018Article
- Combined Enteral and Parenteral Glutamine Supplementation in Endotoxemic Swine: Effects on Portal and Systemic Circulation Levels.Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre · 2018Article
- Therapeutic benefits of glutamine: An umbrella review of meta-analyses.Biomedical reports · 2017Article
- Reduced Hsp70 and Glutamine in Pediatric Severe Malaria Anemia: Role of Hemozoin in Suppressing Hsp70 and NF-κB activation.Molecular medicine (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionGlutamine supplementation is supposed to reduce mortality and nosocomial infections in critically ill patients. However, the recently published reducing deaths due to oxidative stress (REDOX) trials did not provide evidence supporting this. This study investigated the impact of glutamine-supplemented nutrition on the outcomes of critically ill patients using a meta-analysis.
methodsWe searched for and gathered data from the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Elsevier, Web of Science and ClinicalTrials.gov databases reporting the effects of glutamine supplementation on outcomes in critically ill patients. We produced subgroup analyses of the trials according to specific patient populations, modes of nutrition and glutamine dosages.
resultsAmong 823 related articles, eighteen Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) met all inclusion criteria. Mortality events among 3,383 patients were reported in 17 RCTs. Mortality showed no significant difference between glutamine group and control group. In the high dosage subgroup (above 0.5 g/kg/d), the mortality rate in the glutamine group was significantly higher than that of the control group (relative risk (RR) 1.18; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02 to 1.38; P = 0.03). In 15 trials, which included a total of 2,862 patients, glutamine supplementation reportedly affected the incidence of nosocomial infections in the critically ill patients observed. The incidence of nosocomial infections in the glutamine group was significantly lower than that of the control group (RR 0.85; 95% CI, 0.74 to 0.97; P = 0.02). In the surgical ICU subgroup, glutamine supplementation statistically reduced the rate of nosocomial infections (RR 0.70; 95% CI, 0.52 to 0.94; P = 0.04). In the parental nutrition subgroup, glutamine supplementation statistically reduced the rate of nosocomial infections (RR 0.83; 95% CI, 0.70 to 0.98; P = 0.03). The length of hospital stay was reported in 14 trials, in which a total of 2,777 patients were enrolled; however, the patient length of stay was not affected by glutamine supplementation.
conclusionsGlutamine supplementation conferred no overall mortality and length of hospital stay benefit in critically ill patients. However, this therapy reduced nosocomial infections among critically ill patients, which differed according to patient populations, modes of nutrition and glutamine dosages.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.