Title: The Effects of Early Enteral Feeding on the Clinical Outcomes of Critically Ill Patient
Abstract: PURPOSE: Nutritional support has emerged as an essential component in the management of critically ill patients. Previous studies that have shown a beneficial outcome of early enteral feeding were done in post-operative surgical, burn and severely injured trauma patients. However, the optimal time to start enteral nutrion in critically ill medical patients is unclear with a recent study suggesting that early feeding leads to increased infectious complications. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of early feeding on the mortality of critically ill medical patients.