Diarrhoea in the ICU: respective contribution of feeding and antibiotics

Table 3 Diarrhoea risk factors

	Exposure	Number of diarrhoea days on exposure time	Incidence rate	Estimated relative risk^a
	(patient-days)	Number of diarrhoea days on exposure time	(per 100 patient-days)	95% CI	Pvalue
Baseline characteristics
SAPS II >48 vs. ≤48	702	39	5.56	1.48 (0.64; 3.41)	0.356
BMI ≥25 kg/m² vs. <25 kg/m²	760	39	5.13	0.77 (0.30; 1.97)	0.595
Risk factor exposure
EN >60% vs. ≤60% energy target	835	59	7.07	1.75 (1.02; 3.01)	0.042
Antibiotics: yes vs. no	817	73	8.94	3.64 (1.26; 10.51)	0.017
Antifungal drugs: yes vs. no	142	36	25.35	2.79 (1.16; 6.70)	0.022
Immunosuppressants: yes vs. no	69	24	34.78	1.95 (0.57; 6.71)	0.287
Prokinetics: yes vs. no	63	4	6.35	1.44 (0.28; 7.38)	0.659

Diarrhoea was defined as at least three liquid or soft stools per day. The exposure to risk factors was present if the factor was observed during the 48 hours preceding a diarrhoea day. BMI, body mass index; CI, confidence interval; EN, enteral nutrition; SAPS, Simplified Acute Physiology Score. ^aRelative risk estimated with Generalized Estimated Equations logit regression.

ISSN: 1364-8535