Abstract:  Objective  To investigate the effect of early enteral nutrition (EN) support on critically ill patients treated with mechanical ventilation. Methods  Seventy cases of critically ill patients were randomly divided into group A and group B,  35 cases in each group. Both groups received routine treatment. Group A received early enteral nutrition support,  and group B was given enteral nutrition support 48 h after admission. The nutritional indicators,  immunological indicators,  incidence of malnutrition,  incidence of ventilatorassociated pneumonia (VAP),  mechanical ventilation time,  and length of hospital stay were compared after treatment. Results  After treatment,  hemoglobin and serum albumin were higher in both groups than before treatment,  and higher in group A than in group B (P<0.05). After treatment,  the total serum protein was lower in both groups than before treatment,  and lower in group A than in group B (P<0.05). After treatment,  the immune function indicators were significantly improved in both groups (P<0.05). The levels of CD3+,  CD4+, and CD4+/CD8+ in the immune function indicators of group A were higher than those of group B,  and the levels of CD8+ were lower than those of group B(P<0.05). The incidence of malnutrition (8.57%) and VAP (2.86%) in group A were lower than those in group B (42.86%) and VAP (28.57%) after treatment (P<0.05). The mechanical ventilation time and length of hospital stay in group A were shorter than those in group B after treatment (P<0.05). Conclusion  In order to prevent malnutrition in critically ill patients during mechanical ventilation treatment,  it is effective to give early enteral nutrition support on the basis of conventional drug treatment.

Key words: nutritional support, enteral nutrition, mechanical ventilation, the critical