Table 2. Secondary Outcomes relating to feasibility and efficacy.

	Intermittent diurnal feeding (n = 11)	Continuous feeding (n = 17)	p-value
%target nutrition day 1	100 (100, 100)	100 (97, 100)	0.890
%target nutrition day 2	100 (100, 100)	105 (92, 110)	0.430
Absolute calories day 1	750 (750, 750)	750 (729, 750)	0.890
Absolute calories day 2	1376 (1249, 1376)	1446 (1266, 1452)	0.285
Bowels not open	3/11 (27)	9/17 (53)	0.253
Diarrhoea	5/11 (45.5)	0/17 (0)	0.005
No. of episodes bowel opening over study period	2 (0.5, 2.5)	0 (0, 2)
Aspiration	0/11 (0)	0/17 (0)	1.000
Ileus	0/11 (0)	0/17 (0)	1.000
Vomiting	0/11 (0)	2/17 (11.8)	0.505
Delayed gastric emptying	1/11 (9.1)	3/17 (17.6)	0.635
Episodes of hyper or hypoglycaemia	0/11 (0)	0/17 (0)	1.00
Highest glucose day 1	9.7 (8.6, 10.5)	8.4 (7.5, 9.0)	0.053
Highest glucose day 2	9.4 (8.0, 11.3)	9.1 (8.2, 10.2) Not recorded (n = 1)	0.980
Glucose variability (highest-lowest glucose day 1)	2.7 (2.3, 4.7)	1.5 (1.0, 2.7) Not recorded (n = 1)	0.017
Glucose variability (highest-lowest glucose day 2)	2.2 (1.4, 3.8)	2.2 (1.8, 3.3) Not recorded (n = 1)	0.767
No. of patients on exogeneous insulin infusion during study period	1/11	0/17	0.393
ICU LOS, days	8 (10, 21)	13 (10, 22)	0.445
Hospital LOS, days	27 (15, 41)	29 (12, 38)	0.683
ICU mortality	1/11 (9.1)	2/17 (11.8)	0.445
Hospital mortality	3/11 (27)	4/17 (29)	0.683
Delta-SOFA Day 0–2	0 (–2, 3)	0 (–1, +1)	0.781

Data are shown as median (Lower Quartile, Upper Quartile) or frequencies (n, (%)). Day 1 and 2 feeding periods start at 07:00 and run for 24 h (as in Fig. 1). Diarrhoea was defined as passage of type 6 or 7 stool according to the Bristol Stool Chart or >3 stool/24 h. Highest glucose readings on day 2 exclude the period of intensive sampling (reported separately).

ICU: Intensive Care Unit; IQR: interquartile range; LOS, length of stay; SD: standard deviation; SOFA, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment.