Study of glutamine enhanced early enteral nutrition on stress status and immune function in ICU patients

Objective To observe the influence of glutamine enhanced early enteral nutrition on stress status and immune function in ICU patients. Methods 72 ICU patients were randomly divided into EN group(control group) and EN +Gln group(trial group),each with 36 patients. Both groups were inserted with nose-gastric tube or nose-intestinal tube, and continuous infusion with enteral nutrition pump. Glutamine enriched EN was given to the trial group and protein powder enriched EN was given to the control group, both groups with same heat/nitrogen ratio. After 14 days,changes of stress status(CRP) and immune function(CD4+, CD8+, CD4+/CD8+, IgA, IgG, IgM) were evaluated. Results At the end of the experiment,levels of CRP of the trial group were significantly lower than those of the control group(P0.05). Levels of CD4+, CD4+/CD8+, IgA, IgG and IgM of the trial group were significantly higher than those of the control group(P0.05).Conclusion Glutamine enriched early enteral nutrition can effectively improve the stress status and immune function of the ICU patients.