Statistical Analysis
To compare the demographic, anthropometric, biochemical, and
pathological indices of the two groups by independent t-test and
chi-square tests for quantitative and qualitative variables,
respectively. The relationship between enteral nutrition and mortality
was investigated using logistic regression. The confounding factors
including age, gender, BMI, length of stay in the ICU, the Acute
Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE II), the Glasgow Coma
Scale (GCS), presence of chronic diseases, and smoking were adjusted in
various regression models. SPSS 21 software was used for all statistical
analyzes considering the significance level of P<0.05.
Results
The general characteristics of the COVID-19 patients included in this
study are presented
in Table
1. There was no significant difference between the two groups of
patients (died versus recovered) for their age (55.24±15.46 vs.
58.49±15.08 years), BMI (26.69±3.86 vs. 27.46±4.46
kg/m2), and gender. However, the patient group that
died had a significantly higher APACHII and lower GCS compared to the
control group (both P<0.001). Also, the same group had
significantly higher incidences of chronic disease and smoking compared
to the control group (P<0.01).
The comparison of the volume and type of formula received among the case
and control groups is presented in Table 2. The recovered patients
received significantly more high protein (60.8% vs. 39.6%, P=0.004)
and high volume (61.6% vs. vs. 42.3%, P=0.005) formula compared to the
dead patients.
The association between mortality with the volume and type of formula is
presented in Table 3. Mortality was inversely associated with high
volume (OR:0.45 CI95%: 0.26-0.81, P=0.008) and high protein formula
(OR:0.42 CI95%:0.23- 0.75, P=0.003). The results did not change after
adjustments for age and sex (model 2), further adjustments for
underlying diseases and smoking (Model 3), further adjustments for BMI
(Model 4), and additional adjustments for APACHII (Model 5) (Figure 1).