Effects of interventions
See: Summary of findings for the main comparison Feeding started at a mean of 15.6 hours (standard error (SE) 1) in
the early intervention group compared to 48.5 hours (SE 0.4) in the control group. The study groups showed no statistically significant differences in the following outcomes: mortality (early, n = 4 (11%) versus control, n = 3 (8%); P value = 0.99); sepsis (early, n = 17 (47%) versus control, n = 21 (58%); P value = 0.23); ventilator
days (early, mean 24.5 days (SE 4.6) versus control, mean 22.5 days (SE 4.2); P value = 0.75); hospital length of stay (early, mean 54.8 days (SE 5.9) versus control, mean 54.8 days (SE 4.6); P value = 0.96); and unexpected adverse events (early, 8 (22%) versus control, 3 (8%); P value = 0.19). Furthermore, there were no differences between groups in weekly measurements of resting energy expenditure, nitrogen balance, level of pre-albumin, or albumin. We considered the quality of the evidence to be very low due to imprecise effects (only one small study), and the inability
to assess consistency or publication bias.