The impact of admission diagnosis on gastric emptying in critically ill patients

Table 4 Gastric emptying measurements in various groups of diagnosis

	Intra-cerebral injury^a (n = 30)	Burns (n = 9)	Multi-trauma (n = 29)	Sepsis (n = 44)	Non-GI post-operative respiratory failure (n = 12)	Cardiac injury (n = 15)
Delayed gastric emptying	67%	77%	72%	61%	33%^b	27%^c
Relative risk of delayed GE^d (CI)	1.8 (1.1–2.8)	4.2 (1.1–15.0)	2.0 (1.2–3.5)	1.5 (1.02–2.0)	1.1(0.5–2.8)
Age (years)	51.5 ± 1.5	37.2 ± 0.9	47.5 ± 1.8	65.8 ± 0.9	59.3 ± 1.2	58.8 ± 1.3
Days in ICU prior to study	9.8 ± 0.6	9.5 ± 1.5	7.0 ± 0.5	7.7 ± 0.5	6.3 ± 0.4	7.5 ± 2.1
APACHE II score
Admission	23.7 ± 0.4	24.1 ± 0.5	23.2 ± 0.6	25.9 ± 0.5	22.3 ± 0.6	21.9 ± 0.6
Study day	17.5 ± 0.5	14.3 ± 0.6	16.4 ± 0.6	18.5 ± 0.6	17.8 ± 0.5	17.5 ± 0.5
Blood glucose concentrations on study day (mmol/l)	7.9 ± 0.2	8.9 ± 0.3	7.5 ± 0.2	8.5 ± 0.3	7.3 ± 0.4	8.7 ± 0.3
Medications, % (n)
Opioid ± benzodiazepine	80% (24)	89% (8)	89% (26)	82% (36)	83% (10)	73% (11)
Propofol	83% (25)	33% (3)	69% (20)	57% (25)	58% (7)	40% (6)
Inotropes	63% (19)	89% (8)	52% (15)	91% (40)	58% (7)	53% (8)
Enteral feeding rate (ml/hour)
Prior to breath testing	28 ± 2	47 ± 3	29 ± 3	52 ± 3	53 ± 3	76 ± 3
After breath testing	58 ± 3	67 ± 2	40 ± 2	64 ± 3	55 ± 2	76 ± 2
Length of stay (days)
In ICU	20 ± 3	34 ± 9	19 ± 2	20 ± 2	20 ± 2	16 ± 3
In hospital	46 ± 6	70 ± 5	52 ± 6	37 ± 3	37 ± 2	29 ± 2
Prokinetic therapy for feeding during ICU admission^e, % (n)	40% (12)	33% (3)	35% (10)	32% (14)	0% (0)	20% (3)

^aSeven patients had head injury due to multi-trauma. ^bP < 0.05, versus the other four groups on hierarchical regression analysis after controlling for age, admission APACHE II scores, and serum creatinine. ^cP < 0.01, versus the other four groups on hierarchical regression analysis after controlling for age, admission APACHE II scores, and serum creatinine.^dCompared with patients with cardiac injury.^eIn all patients, prokinetic agents were ceased more than or equal to 24 hours prior to the assessment of GE. APACHE II, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II; CI, 95% confidence interval; GE, gastric emptying; GI, gastrointestinal; ICU, intensive care unit.

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