Early enteral nutrition in critically-ill patients

Table 4 A summary of studies on a variety of surgical patients and the effects of early enteral nutrition on their recovery and other outcomes

Ref.	Type of study	Study population	Findings
Shu et al[75], 2016	Meta-analysis	1095 patients with digestive tract surgeries	Decrease in infectious and non-infectious complications in EEN
			No difference in hospital length of stay
Herbert et al[76], 2019	Cochrane systematic review	1437 patients with lower digestive tract surgeries	Shorter length of stay in hospital in EEN
			No difference in post-operative complications
			No difference in mortality
Burcharth et al[77], 2021	Cochrane systematic review	1309 patients with major abdominal surgery	Decrease in mortality in EEN
			No difference in post-operative complications
Chen et al[78], 2023	Retrospective analysis	121 patients with gastrointestinal tumors requiring surgery	Better post-operative nutritional status in EEN
			Faster recovery time in EEN
			Increased risk of adverse effects in EEN

EEN: Early enteral nutrition.