Benefits of Early Enteral Feeding with a Locally Prepared Protein-Energy Ration after Surgery for Acute Generalised Peritonitis: A Randomised Trial in Two Hospitals in Bukavu, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Table 2

Comparison of the means between the intervention group and the control group.

Variable	Intervention group	Control group
Age (year)	24.3 (13.7)	34.3 (19.1)	0.0348
C-reactive protein (mg/l)	42.7 (25.9)	43.9 (28.4)	0.7032
BMI (kg/m^2)	20.3 (2.4)	20.4 (2.3)	0.8675
Delta albumin (mg/dl)	34.8 (3.1)	31.9 (3.6)	0.0027
Waiting time before intervention (hour)	15.6 (21.3)	16 (19.8)	0.9223
Number of perforations	1.7 (0.8)	1.9 (0.7)	0.3408
Delay in of peristalsis recovery (day)	2.1 (0.6)	3.8 (1.2)	<0.0001
Duration of hospitalization (day)	25.5 (14.9)	39.4 (25.3)	0.0046

Delta albumin is the average of the admission and discharge albumin levels.