Changes in global nutrition practices in critically ill children and the impact of emerging evidence: a secondary analysis of the Pediatric International Nutrition Studies (PINS), 2009- 2018

Background: The timeline of the 3 Pediatric International Nutrition Studies (PINS) coincided with the publication of 2 major guidelines for the timing of parenteral nutrition (PN) and recommended energy and protein delivery dose. Objective: The study's main objective was to describe changes in the nutrition delivery practice recorded in PINS1 and PINS2 (PINS1-2) (conducted in 2009 and 2011, preexposure epoch) vs PINS3 (conducted in 2018, postexposure epoch), in relation to the published practice guidelines. Design: This study is a secondary analysis of data from a multicenter prospective cohort study. Participants/setting: Data from 3650 participants, aged 1 month to 18 years, admitted to 100 unique hospitals that participated in 3 PINS was used for this study. Main outcome measures: The time in days from pediatric intensive care unit admission to the initiation of PN and enteral nutrition delivery were the primary outcomes. Prescribed energy and protein goals were the secondary outcomes. Statistical analyses performed: A frailty model with a random intercept per hospital with stratified baseline hazard function by region for the primary outcomes and a mixed-effects negative binomial regression with random intercept per hospital for the secondary outcomes. Results: The proportion of patients receiving enteral nutrition (88.3% vs 80.6%; P < .001) was higher, and those receiving PN (20.6% vs 28.8%; P < .001) was lower in the PINS3 cohort compared with PINS1-2. In the PINS3 cohort, the odds of initiating PN during the first 10 days of pediatric intensive care unit admission were lower, compared with the PINS1-2 cohort (hazard ratio 0.8, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.95; P = .013); and prescribed energy goal was lower compared with the PINS1-2 cohort (incident rate ratio 0.918, 95% CI 0.874 to 0.965; P = .001). Conclusions: The likelihood of initiation of PN delivery significantly decreased during the first 10 days after admission in the PINS3 cohort compared with PINS1-2. Energy goal prescription in children receiving mechanical ventilation significantly decreased in the postguidelines epoch compared with the preguidelines epoch.