BACKGROUND AND AIMS: During hospitalization in a @entity4806 intensive care unit (PICU), critically ill @entity1 are fed artificially. Administered via the preferred enteral route, caloric targets are often not reached. Hence, parenteral nutrition is given to this @entity1 population. In this review we analyzed the available evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that supports the use of parenteral nutrition in @entity1 during @entity3124 . METHODS: A search strategy in Ovid MEDLINE and Ovid EMBASE was created and trial registries were screened to identify the relevant RCTs. Studies were included if they were randomized controlled trials, involved @entity4806 @entity1 admitted to PICU, and compared different dosing/compositions of parenteral nutrition. Descriptive studies and reviews were excluded. RESULTS: Of the 584 articles identified by the search strategy, only 114 articles were retained after title screening. Further abstract and full text screening identified 6 small RCTs that compared two dosing/composition strategies of parenteral nutrition. These trials reported differences in surrogate endpoints without an effect on hard clinical endpoints. The RCTs observed improvements in these surrogate endpoints with the use of more calories or when parenteral @entity3264 or fish oil was added. CONCLUSIONS: The few RCTs suggest that surrogate endpoints can be affected by providing parenteral nutrition to critically ill @entity1 , but the studies were not statistically powered to draw meaningful clinical conclusions. Large RCTs with clinically relevant outcome measures are urgently needed to support the current nutritional guidelines that advise the use of parenteral nutrition in the PICU.

Evidence for the use of parenteral nutrition in the XXXX intensive care unit.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['children', 'patients', 'patient'] @entity3124 :: ('MESH:D016638', 'Disease') :: ['critical illness'] @entity4806 :: ('MESH:D063766', 'Disease') :: ['pediatric'] @entity3264 :: ('D018698', 'Chemical') :: ['glutamine']
@entity4806 :: (MESH:D063766,Disease) :: ['pediatric']
