Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Nutritional support has emerged as a critical component in neurorehabilitation, with extensive research demonstrating its fundamental role in optimizing patient outcomes and recovery processes across various neurological conditions.Malnutrition affects approximately 42% of patients with moderate to severe acquired brain injury upon admission to neurorehabilitation facilities, contributing to longer hospital stays, increased complications, and elevated morbidity and mortality rates.The metabolic changes following neurological injury, including hypermetabolism and hypercatabolism, create unique challenges that predispose patients to malnutrition if nutritional support is not initiated early.Research evidence strongly supports targeted nutritional interventions, with protein supplementation studies showing significant enhancements in neurological recovery -a randomized controlled trial of 42 ischemic stroke patients demonstrated that 21 days of hyperproteic nutritional formula (10% protein) resulted in greater improvement in NIH Stroke Scale scores compared to controls.Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation has shown remarkable neuroprotective effects, with experimental research demonstrating that mice fed omega-3 PUFA-enriched diets for two months exhibited attenuated behavioral deficits following controlled cortical impact, protection against hippocampal neuronal loss, reduced pro-inflammatory responses, and maintained nerve fiber conductivity.The timing of nutritional intervention proves crucial, with very early feeding (within 6 hours) resulting in significantly shorter ICU stays compared to delayed feeding -analysis of 9,210 critically ill trauma patients showed 7.82 days versus 17.55 days for late feeding beyond 48 hours.
Author: Đerke, Filip
Institution: University Hospital Dubrava
Language: English
Subfield: Nutrition and Dietetics
Field: Nursing
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4415143598
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