Effects of Immunonutrition on the Acute Immune Response in Hospitalized Patients With Pneumonia

Immunonutrition has a well-documented beneficial effect on surgical patients by strengthening the immune system and reducing the following: inflammation, the number of infections as well as hospitalization time. A study in operated patients demonstrated the benefit of immunonutrition by reducing unwanted inflammation, measured by the pro-inflammatory signalling protein, interleukin-6. The same study saw a smaller decrease in immune function (measured as the level of phagocytosis) in the group receiving immunonutrition than in the control group. This project will investigate whether similar effects can be detected in patients with pneumonia.

The project is being carried out in a collaboration between the University of Copenhagen, The main hospital of Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet) and North Zealand Hospital. The project is a randomized clinical intervention study, which spans 10 days. Participants are allocated to the intervention group or the control group. The project is being carried out at the North Zealand hospital, at the Department of Pulmonary- and Infectious Diseases.

The intervention group receives the department's standard treatment (Standard Of Care) + immunonutrition, while the control group receives the hospital department's standard treatment (Standard Of Care). On a daily basis, the patient's clinical condition and the activity of the immune system is measured for the purpose of determine whether there is an effect of immunonutrition.