Figure 1

Distribution of the metabolic state of critically ill patients. Measured energy expenditure (EE) by indirect calorimetry was compared with estimated EE by the Harris-Benedict (H-B) equation in 213 critically ill patients. "Normal metabolism" represents those patients with measured EE within 10% of the estimation by the H-B equation. Those patients exceeding 110% and falling short of 90% of the estimated EE were categorized as "hypermetabolic" and "hypometabolic", respectively. Only 31% of the patients had normal metabolism, demonstrating the importance of indirect calorimetry for the accurate assessment of the metabolic state in critically ill patients. Adapted from [27]