Nutritional support and mortality in critically ill adults - a subset analysis of the calories trial.

Introduction University College London Hospital (UCLH) was one of the largest contributors to the CALORIES trial; a pragmatic, multi-centre, randomised control trial examining the effectiveness of early nutritional support in critically ill patients through a comparison of parenteral and enteral nutrition. The trial found no significant difference in 30-day mortality associated with the route of calorie delivery [1]. Both groups had a similar calorie intake and neither group attained their calorie target. We sought to determine whether our institution’s nutritional support practices were concordant with the CALORIES trial findings, and whether a relationship between calorie ‘dose’ and patient outcomes could be delineated [1].