Zeng 2010.
| Methods | Randomized controlled trial with 2 parallel groups 1 centre Country: China |
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| Participants | Patients with severe craniocerebral injury Mean age: 41 years Male: 63% Median APACHE II score: not mentioned Not mentioned whether participants were on mechanical ventilation Inclusion criteria 1‐Length of hospital stay > 14 days 2‐Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score ≤ 8 3‐No history of liver, kidney or other vital organ disease, without diabetes and other metabolic disease Exclusion criteria Not mentioned Number of participants randomly assigned: 40 Number of participants who received intended treatment: 20 post‐pyloric; 20 gastric Number of participants analysed: 20 post‐pyloric; 20 gastric |
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| Interventions | Nose jejunal tube or nasogastric tube was placed immediately after patients were admitted to ICU No details available about size of tube, method of insertion, target location, confirmation of placement or monitoring of position of the tube Same feeding protocol was used in both groups Duration of follow‐up was not mentioned |
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| Outcomes | 1‐Serum albumin at 7 and 14 days after nutritional support 2‐Blood glucose at 7 and 14 days after nutritional support 3‐Lymphocyte count at 7 and 14 days after nutritional support 4‐Complications: gastrointestinal bleeding, reflux, diarrhoea, bloating |
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| Notes | Article was published in Chinese and was translated with the help of another Chinese author | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Low risk | Quote: "patients were randomly divided by random table method" |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Not mentioned Comment: insufficient information to permit judgement of ’high risk’ or ’low risk’ |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes | High risk | Participants were not blinded, but outcome was not likely to be influenced Personnel: not mentioned by study authors Comments: probably personnel not blinded, otherwise this would be mentioned |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | Low risk | Not mentioned by study authors Comments: outcome not likely to be influenced, as incidence of pneumonia was not reported |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | No missing data Uncertain whether analysis was done according to intention‐to‐treat |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | Study protocol is available, and all outcomes have been reported |
| Other bias | Low risk | Study appears to be free of other sources of bias |
APACHE II = Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II.
BMI = body mass index.
CXR = chest X‐ray.
EMG = electromyographic.
GCS = Glasgow coma scale.
GRV = gastric residual volume.
ICU = intensive care unit.
IQR = interquartile range.
SOFA = Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.