Enteral versus intravenous approach for the sedation of critically ill patients: a randomized and controlled trial

Table 1 Baseline characteristics

	Group IV (N = 165)	Group EN (N = 174)
Age, median [IQR], years^a	71 [62–77]	73 [62–78]
Men^a	107 (64.8)	109 (62.6)
BMI, median [IQR]	25.9 [23.7–29.4]	26.1 [23.4–29.4]
Severe sepsis or septic shock^a	48 (29.1)	64 (36.8)
SAPS II score, median [IQR]^{a, b}	45 [38–55]	46 [38–54]
SOFA score, median [IQR] ^c	8 [5–10]	7 [5–10]
Type of admission^{a, d}
Medical	110 (66.7)	114 (65.5)
Surgical/traumatic	55 (33.3)	60 (34.5)
Admission from
Emergency room	55 (33.3)	61 (37.0)
Ward	55 (33.3)	59 (35.8)
Operating theatre	39 (23.6)	34 (20.6)
Other ICU	16 (9.7)	20 (12.1)
Reason for ICU admission^e
Respiratory failure	97 (58.8)	101 (58.0)
Cardiac failure	38 (23.0)	40 (23.0)
Neurologic failure	11 (6.7)	12 (6.9)
Monitoring	6 (3.6)	9 (5.2)
Other	13 (7.9)	12 (6.9)
Acute or chronic kidney failure^a	30 (18.2)	43 (24.7)
Moderate to severe COPD^a	50 (30.3)	53 (30.5)

Abbreviations: EN enteral, IV intravenous, BMI body mass index, IQR interquartile range, SAPS Simplified Acute Physiology Score, SOFA Sequential Organ Failure Assessment, COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ICU Intensive Care Units
^aCharacteristics used by the minimization algorithm for the group assignment
^bSAPS II may range from 0 to 163 points, with higher scores indicating more severe diseases
^cSOFA score may range from 0 to 24 points, with higher scores indicating more severe diseases
^dSurgical/trauma refers to admission from an operating room or postoperative recovery area
^eMain reasons for admission are mutually exclusive

ISSN: 1364-8535