To study the current status of the nutritional support for patients with severe traumatic brain injury in Zhejiang province.

A total of 219 patients in 24 hospitals in Zhejiang province were enrolled from October 2015 to December 2016 in this study. All the clinical information of these patients after arriving at hospital were recorded, as well as the contents and complications of nutritional support after injury. All patients were followed up , and their Glasgow Outcome Scale were evaluated and recorded.

A majority of patients in this study obtained early nutritional support after the injury, which accounted for 99.06% of all cases on the 7th day post injury. The percentage of enteral nutrition was relatively high. Within 30 days post injury, the average ratio of actual calorie supplementation to the target of calorie supplementation had increased from (42.8±34.1)% to (85.5±27.7)% (P<0.05) . However, the rate of adequate calorie supplementation was as low as 6.2%-29.1%, and the percentage of adequate calorie and protein supplementation was 12.4%-24.3%, which remained relatively unchanged within 30 days post injury (P>0.05). At 6-month follow-up post injury, good outcomes were achieved in 113 cases, poor outcomes occurred in 89 cases, and 17 cases died. Subgroup analysis indicated that patients with inadequate calorie supplementation within 7 days post injury had poorer outcomes at 6-month follow-up compared with patients with adequate calorie supplementation (χ²=8.354, P<0.05). Multiple complications such as nausea and vomiting were observed and related to nutritional support, among them the most common form was hyperglycemia with the incidence rate of 0.5%~13.7%.

Early and diverse nutritional support has been provided for patients with severe traumatic brain injury in Zhejiang province. However, the rate of adequate calorie and protein supplementation seems critically low.

Craniocerebral trauma; Nutritional support; Questionnaires; Multicenter studies