Nutrition therapy in critically ill elderly patients.

ABSTRACT

Nutrition therapy in critically ill patients is as important as curative pharmacotherapy or advanced cardiac life support. Nutrition support indeed improves the disease outcomes and must be given due importance in any therapeutic regimen. High incidence of co-existent malnutrition in elderly patients emphasizes the added value of nutrition therapy in this subgroup of patients. Enteral route of nutrition therapy is always preferred over parenteral route until and unless indicated otherwise, by virtue of being non-invasive and easy to administer. In addition it has local gut protective effects, lesser incidence of infectious morbidity and better cost-effectiveness. However, parenteral route may be the only viable option in certain clinical scenarios.