ArticleJournal of the Intensive Care Society2018
Exploring fasting practices for critical care patients - A web-based survey of UK intensive care units.
Article in Journal of the Intensive Care Society, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Enteral feeding protocol: a quality improvement project on feeding interruptions and clinical outcomes in a tertiary intensive care unit.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Effect of Fasting Prior to Extubation on Prevalence of Empty Stomach in Enterally Fed and Mechanically Ventilated Patients.Respiratory care · 2024Observational
- Article
- Article
- Nutritional priorities in patients with severe COVID-19.Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care · 2022Review
- Nutritional support protocol for patients with COVID-19.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEnteral nutrition delivery in the critically ill is frequently interrupted for surgical and airway procedures to avoid aspiration of stomach contents. Recurrent fasting leads to under delivery of enteral nutrition and this underfeeding is associated with worse outcomes. International fasting recommendations do not provide guidance for intubated patients receiving enteral nutrition. This study aimed to gain a detailed perspective of UK critical care fasting practices.
methodsA web-based survey was sent to 232 UK intensive care units consisting of questions relating to fasting practices, presence of guidelines, average fasting times for common procedures and dietitian time per intensive care unit bed.
resultsA total of 176 intensive care units responded. Only 20% of units had guidelines and respondents stated that they were not consistently adhered to (mean compliance 66%). Units with greater dietetic involvement were more likely to have guidelines (p = 0.04). Fasting times were shorter for abdominal surgery (p = 0.002), non-abdominal surgery (p = 0.016) and radiology (p = 0.015) if a guideline was present. Fasting for extubation and tracheostomy was similar irrespective of the presence of a guideline. Considerable variation in fasting times was reported, usually due to inconsistencies in clinical decision-making.
conclusionsThis survey of national practice demonstrates that fasting times are varied and inconsistent, which may lead to under-delivery of enteral nutrition. More dietetic input was associated with increased likelihood of a fasting guideline.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.