To investigate the clinical value of enteral nutrition strategy on clinical prognosis and outcome of patients with abdominal surgery, and to provide evidence for clinical treatment.

From January 2008 to December 2012, one hundred patients received abdominal surgery in Baoji People’s Hospital. According to the strategy of enteral nutrition, the patients were divided to early group (60 cases, <48 h) and delayed group (40 cases, ≥48 h). Clinical indexes such as APACHE Ⅱ score, GCS score, diabetes and hypertension history, type of surgery, parenteral nutrition support, ventilator free days, initial time of enteral nutrition, soft diet time, hospital stay, number of infections and deaths, results of blood and urine bacterial culture, fungi culture, deep tracheal culture, pus culture, whether intravenous injection for nutritional support, were recorded and compared. The correlation between the two groups were also analyzed.

In terms of abdominal surgery in patients with general information, the two groups were not significantly different in sex, age, APACHE Ⅱ score, GCS score, whether or not differences with diabetes or hypertension, emergency and emergency surgery, laparoscopic and open surgical operation type. There was significant difference between the two groups in terms of the type of operation and whether or not they received parenteral nutrition (χ²=5.02, 8.72, P=0.03,<0.01). In the early group, ventilator free days, initial time of enteral nutrition, soft diet time, hospital stay, the number of infection cases were significantly lower than those in the delayed group (χ²=5.81, t=3.56, 4.26, 5.27, 6.58, all P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that the initial time of enteral nutrition was positively correlated with hospital stay (r=0.59, P<0.05).

Early enteral nutrition support can effectively reduce the risk of postoperative infection in patients undergoing abdominal surgery, but may not be of clinical value in improving prognosis.