Comparison of the Effects of Standard and Diabetes-specific Dietary Products on Tight Blood Glucose Control in Critically Ill Patients

Objective: Nutritional support is a part of intensive care unit therapy. In our study, we investigated the effects of diabetes-specific enteral formula and standard enteral formula on tight blood glucose control and insulin requirement in hyperglycemic intensive care unit patients. Materials and Methods: The study was planned as a prospective, randomized, crossover comparative study. The daily caloric requirements for patients who tolerated enteral product intake were calculated as 25 kcal x body weight. Calorie requirements were divided into 21 hours and hourly calorie needs and nutrient volume were calculated. Eighty patients were divided into two groups. First group received ISOSOURCE (R) Standard and second group received Novasource (R) Diabetes in the first 24 hours. In the second 24 hours, group 1 received Novasource (R) Diabetes, while Group 2 received Isosource (R) Standard. An intravenous insulin infusion was given to maintain the blood glucose level at 80-150 mg/dL. Blood glucose level was measured every 4 hours by taking arterial blood gas. Maximum, minimum, mean and median blood glucose levels, total insulin, mean insulin levels and the number of insulin dose changes were recorded. Results: No statistically significant difference was observed between two groups in terms of maximum, minimum and mean blood glucose levels. When compared, median blood glucose levels were numerically significant, but were not statistically significant in both groups. Conclusion: It was concluded that diabetes-specific enteral formula did not contribute significantly to tight blood glucose control in non-diabetic critical patients.