Prevalence and Prognostic Value of Abnormal Liver Test Results in Critically Ill Children and the Impact of Delaying Parenteral Nutrition*

OBJECTIVES: In the Early versus Late Parenteral Nutrition in the Pediatric ICU randomized controlled trial, delaying parenteral nutrition to beyond day 7 (late parenteral nutrition) was clinically superior to supplemental parenteral nutrition initiated within 24 hours (early parenteral nutrition), but resulted in a higher rise in bilirubin. We aimed to document prevalence and prognostic value of abnormal liver tests in the PICU and the impact hereon of withholding early parenteral nutrition. DESIGN: Preplanned secondary analysis of the Early versus Late Parenteral Nutrition in the Pediatric ICU randomized controlled trial. Total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase plasma concentrations were measured systematically in PICU. Liver test analyses were adjusted for baseline characteristics including severity of illness. SETTING: Three PICUs in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Canada. PATIENTS: As neonatal jaundice was considered a confounder, only the 1,231 of the 1,440 Early versus Late Parenteral Nutrition in the Pediatric ICU-patients 28 days to 17 years old were included. INTERVENTIONS: Late parenteral nutrition as compared with early parenteral nutrition. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: During the first seven PICU days, the prevalence of cholestasis (> 2 mg/dL [34.2 μmol/L] bilirubin) ranged between 3.8% and 4.9% and of hypoxic hepatitis (≥ 20-fold upper limit of normality for alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase) between 0.8% and 2.2%, both unaffected by the use of parenteral nutrition. Throughout the first week in PICU plasma bilirubin concentrations were higher in late parenteral nutrition patients (p < 0.05), but became comparable to early parenteral nutrition patients as soon as parenteral nutrition was started on day 8. Plasma concentrations of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase were unaffected by parenteral nutrition. High day 1 plasma concentrations of gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase (p ≤ 0.01), but not alkaline phosphatase, were independent risk factors for PICU mortality. Day 1 plasma bilirubin concentrations displayed a U-shaped association with PICU mortality, with higher mortality associated with bilirubin less than 0.20 mg/dL and greater than 0.76 mg/dL (< 3.42 μmol/L and > 13 μmol/L) (p ≤ 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Overt cholestasis and hypoxic hepatitis were rare and unrelated to the nutritional strategy. However, withholding parenteral nutrition up to 1 week in PICU increased plasma bilirubin. A mild elevation of bilirubin on the first PICU day was associated with lower risk of death and may reflect a stress response, rather than true cholestasis.

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