Table I.
Characteristics of the trials included in the present meta-analysis in chronological order by year of publication.
| Author (year) | Country | Type of diseases or surgeries | Age, year (treatment/control) | Gender (M/F) | No. of subjects (treatment/control) | Intervention (treatment/control) | Duration, day | Design | Study-quality score | (Refs.) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schroeder et al (1991) | New Zealand | Bowel resection | 51±18/53±22 | 17/15 | 32 (16/16) | POD 1 EN | Routine postoperative feeding | 14 | DB, C, R | 5 | (19) |
| Reissman et al (1995) | USA | Elective colorectal surgery | 16–90 | 77/84 | 161 (80/81) | POD 1 EN | Regular feeding | – | PC, R | 3 | (20) |
| Ortiz et al (1996) | Spain | Elective colorectal and rectal surgery | 22–90 | – | 190 (91/91) | POD1 EN | Routine postoperative feeding | 10 | PC, R | 3 | (21) |
| Braga et al (1996) | Italy | Gastric or pancreatic cancer | 59±9/61±7 | – | 40 (20/20) | POD 1 EN | TPN | 7 | PC, R | 3 | (22) |
| Singh et al (1998) | India | Non-traumatic intestinal perforation and peritonitis | 38.9±2.1/40.8±2.3 | – | 43 (21/22) | POD 0.5 EN | TPN | 7 | PC, R | 3 | (23) |
| Watters et al (1997) | Canada | Esophagectomy or pancreatoduodenectomy | 64±11/61±12 | 22/6 | 28 (13/15) | POD 1 EN | Unfed | 6 | PC, R | 3 | (24) |
| Stewart et al (1998) | Australia | Elective intraperitoneal colorectal resections | 17–89 | 43/37 | 80 (40/40) | POD 1 EN | POD1-2 EN | 10 | PC, R | 3 | (25) |
| Hu et al (1999) | China | Gastrointestinal surgery | 38±10.2/45±9.8 | 30/8 | 38 (18/20) | POD 1 EN | PN | 5 | PC, R | 3 | (26) |
| Bozzetti et al (2001) | Italy | Gastrointestinal cancer | 64.8±10.8/64.1±9.8 | 185/132 | 317 (159/158) | POD 1 EN | PN | 7 | PC, R | 3 | (27) |
| Farreras et al (2005) | Spain | Gastric cancer | 66.7±8.3/69.2±13.8 | 32/28 | 60 (30/30) | POD 1 EN | Routine postoperative feeding | 7 | DB, C, R | 5 | (28) |
| Wu et al (2006) | China | Esophageal carcinoma | 33–79 | 78/28 | 106 (53/53) | POD 1 EN | PN | 7 | PC, R | 3 | (29) |
POD, postoperative day; EN, enteral nutrition; PN, parenteral nutrition; TPN, total parenteral nutrition; DB, double-blind; C, control; PC, parallel-controlled; R, randomized.