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The indications for providing nutrients by the enteral or intravenous route (nutritional support) are not well defined, and the efficacy of nutritional support in many circumstances is unproved. Nonetheless, nutritional support is widely used for several reasons: malnutrition is common in hospitalized patients,1,2 there is an association between malnutrition and increased morbidity3,4 and mortality,5 it seems intuitively likely that well-nourished patients will respond most favorably to treatment, nutritional support can be administered safely to most patients, and clinical trials indicate that it is beneficial in selected patients.610 Virtually all patients can be fed intravenously or enterally, because . . .
Wiley W. Souba (Thu,) studied this question.