Study design and participants
critically ill
CRITICALLY ILL
The Intermittent versus Continuous Feeding in critically ill patients study (IVC study, NCT02358512) was a multicentre single-blinded randomised controlled trial performed on 8 UK intensive care units (ICU), in which adult (≥ 18 years of age) patients were randomised (1:1 ratio, concealed allocation) to receive either a continuous or intermittent enteral feeding regimen5.Chest. 158:183–194. The original study received ethics committee approval (National Research Ethics Service Committee London-Queens Square; REC reference 14/LO/1792; IRAS project ID 160,281) and was registered on clinicaltrials.gov before randomisation was commenced (05/11/15). All research was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Prospective informed assent was obtained in writing from a nominated personal consultee or professional consultee. Retrospective participant consent was obtained on return of participant’s mental capacity. Permission to use participants’ data if capacity did not return or they did not survive was included in the assent process.