The safety of rapid administration of enteral nutrition in acute stroke patients

Early initiation of enteral nutrition (EN) is recommended for acute stroke patients, but it is time-consuming. Reducing EN administration time without increasing the frequency of complications is a worthwhile goal. We aimed to determine whether this goal was feasible. Consecutive acute stroke patients with severe dysphagia within 72 h of hospital admission who received EN were retrospectively enrolled. Patients were classified into two groups (Rapid administration group: 100 mL/5 min on days 1–3 after stroke onset and 200 mL/30 min on days 4–7, Conventional administration group: 100 mL/h on days 1–3 and 200 mL/h on days 4–7). Among 118 consecutive acute stroke patients, 71 patients [median age, 77 (68–82) years; 37 (52%) males] were enrolled. The baseline clinical characteristics of the rapid administration group (45 patients) and the conventional administration group (26 patients) did not differ. The total duration of EN administration in the first week after stroke onset was significantly longer in the conventional vs. rapid administration group [21 (15–21) h vs. 6 (2–8) h, p