Immune function changes before and after enteral nutrition support for patients in ICU

OBJECTIVE To study the influence of enteral nutrition support on immune function for patients in intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS From January 2009 to January 2011, 16 cases of patients with enteral nutrition in ICU were selected as the observation group and 10 cases of the healthy check-up person in our hospital medical center were selected as the control group. We compared the cellular immunity and humoral immunity of the two groups. RESULTS (1) Before enteral nutrition support of the observation group, the level of CD4+ lymphocyte subsets was 31.2±8.6 and proportionality of CD4+ / CD8+ was 1.4±0.4, which were lower than the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P﹤0.05); the levels of CD3+ and CD8+ lymphocyte subsets were lower than the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P﹥0.05); the level of NK cell was lower than the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P﹥0.05); the level of IL-2 was 8.6±2.4mg / L, which was lower than the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P﹤0.05). After enteral nutrition support of the observation group, the level of CD3+ lymphocyte subsets was 76.5±13.7, the level of CD4+ lymphocyte subsets was 49.2±12.4 and proportionality of CD4+ / CD8+ was 2.9±0.9, which were lower than before enteral nutrition support and the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P﹤0.05); the level of CD8+ lymphocyte subsets were lower than before enteral nutrition support and the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P﹥0.05); the level of NK cell was lower than before enteral nutrition support and the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P﹥0.05); the level of IL-2 was 12.2±3.9mg / L, which were lower than before enteral nutrition support, the difference was statistically significant (P﹤0.05), which was lower than the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (P﹥0.05). (2) Before enteral nutrition support of the observation group, the levels of IgG, IgM and IgA were 10.3±1.2g / L, 1.2±0.6g / l and 2.2±0.2g / L, which were lower than the control group, the differences were statistically significant(P﹤0.05). After enteral nutrition support of the observation group, the levels of IgG, IgM and IgA were 13.8±2.3g / L, 2.1±0.4g / L and 3.1±0.6g / L, which were higher than before enteral nutrition support, the differences were statistically significant (P﹤0.05), and which were higher than the control group, the differences were not statistically significant (P ﹥0.05). CONCLUSION Enteral nutrition support can improve the cellular immune and humoral immune of the critical patients in the ICU.