Peptide-based enteral formula improves tolerance and clinical outcomes in abdominal surgery patients relative to a whole protein enteral formula

Table 1 Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics between the whole-protein formula group and the dipeptide- and tripeptide-based formula group

	WPF group	PEF group	P-value
n	40	32
Gender (Male/Female)	23/17	19/13	0.873
Feeding route (PEG1/NG2)	2/38	3-29	0.468
Major diagnoses
Esophageal cancer	4	5	0.473
Colon cancer	22	16	0.673
Gastric cancer (subtotal gastrectomy)	2	3	0.468
Bile duct cancer	4	2	0.567
Ischemic bowel	8	6	0.894
Age	67.5 ± 10.5	64.7 ± 10.1	0.263
APACHE II score	11.6 ± 2.3	12.4 ± 2.6	0.201
Ventilator dependence, n (%)	15 (37.5)	13 (40.6)	0.787
Body mass index	22.3 ± 2.1	21.9 ± 2.2	0.398

¹Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy;

²Naso-gastric tube. Values are presented as number of patients or mean ± SD. WPF: Whole-protein formula; PEF: Dipeptide- and tripeptide-based enteral formula.

Table 2 Differences in nutritional status between the whole-protein formula group and the dipeptide- and tripeptide-based formula group

	WPF group	PEF group	P-value
Albumin (g/dL)
POD1-1	2.59 ± 0.21	2.57 ± 0.19	0.652
POD-5	2.60 ± 0.26	2.68 ± 0.28	0.198
POD-10	2.70 ± 0.30	2.89 ± 0.27	0.010
Prealbumin (mg/dL)
POD-1	11.1 ± 1.4	10.6 ± 1.3	0.201
POD-5	11.6 ± 1.2	12.8 ± 2.1	0.006
POD-10	12.9 ± 1.7	15.1 ± 1.5	< 0.001
TLC2 (cell/mm3)
POD-1	1069 ± 135	1077 ± 148	0.801
POD-5	1082 ± 149	1192 ± 168	0.012
POD-10	1231 ± 162	1311 ± 182	0.052
CRP3 (mg/L)
POD-1	43.7 ± 7.8	43.0± 9.4	0.742
POD-5	32.7 ± 4.9	33.4 ± 5.2	0.824
POD-10	19.7 ± 5.0	18.5 ± 5.4	0.416

¹Postoperative day;

²Total lymphocyte count;

³C-reactive protein. Values are presented as mean ± SD. WPF: Whole-protein formula.

Table 3 Clinical outcomes for the whole-protein formula group and the dipeptide- and tripeptide-based formula group

	WPF group	PEF group	P-value
Length of stay in the ICU1 (d)	6.8 ± 1.5	6.2 ± 0.8	0.047
Maximum caloric intake during ICU stay (kcal/kg)	22.5 ± 1.9	23.2 ± 2.4	0.063
Caloric intake (kcal/kg body weight/d)
POD2-5	20.7 ± 2.3	21.5 ± 1.7	0.116
POD-10	23.5 ± 2.4	25.1 ± 2.9	0.010
Maximum GRV3 during ICU stay (mL)	183.6 ± 88.0	138.0 ± 63.9	0.016
Prevalence of suspended feeding due to high GRV (%)	21.8	15.2	0.071
Prevalence of diarrhea (%)	19.9	13.2	0.056
Prevalence of pneumonia (%)	5	3.1	0.692

¹Intensive care unit;

²Postoperative day;

³Gastric residual volume. Values are presented as mean ± SD. WPF: Whole-protein formula.