Abstract
Introduction: In the scenario of chronic diseases, patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are increasingly obese, with an incidence of up to 40%. Objective: It was to describe the main considerations of the importance of nutritional therapy as a fundamental basis for the treatment of chronic patients and with obesity. Methods: The PRISMA Platform systematic review rules were followed. The search was carried out from August to September 2024 in the Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Scielo, and Google Scholar databases. The quality of the studies was based on the GRADE instrument and the risk of bias was analyzed according to the Cochrane instrument. Results and Conclusion: 134 articles were found. A total of 57 articles were evaluated in full and 43 were included and developed in the present systematic review study. Considering the Cochrane tool for risk of bias, the overall assessment resulted in 11 studies with a high risk of bias and 20 studies that did not meet GRADE and AMSTAR-2. Most studies showed homogeneity in their results, with X2=77.4%>50%. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are increasingly obese. Obesity is observed by nutritional imbalance that alters the qualities of individuals' micronutrient status through a concentrated intake of minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium, zinc, and copper, as well as vitamins. The goals of nutritional therapy are to prevent morbidity and mortality directly attributable to macro- and micronutrient deficiency and to minimize the loss of lean body mass. There are still gaps in information by ASPEN and ESPEN regarding optimal nutritional therapy for patients with obesity during critical illness. International guidelines, therefore, recommend measuring energy expenditure versus energy savings with indirect calorimetry in obese patients.