ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT06344546Updated Apr 2, 2025

Metabolic Pathway Analysis in Intensive Care Unit Patients With Refeeding Syndrome

An observational study in Critical Illness, Refeeding Syndrome and Hypophosphatemia, sponsored by Karolinska University Hospital. Completed at 4 sites in 3 countries. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-04-02.

Primary conditionRefeeding SyndromeRegistry: Critical IllnessReclassifiedWhy we changed it
Registry
Critical Illness — the first condition term the registry derived for this study.
ClinicalTrials.gg
Refeeding Syndrome
Why
  1. Critical Illness is a broad heading, used only when no more specific condition is named.
  2. The study's listed conditions name Refeeding Syndrome.
Confidence
High: the new condition is named in the study's own listed conditions. Of 351 hand-checked studies reclassified this way, 68% were exactly right and 84% in the right disease family; the registry's first term was right for 5% (measured 2026-10-21). How we classify →
Wrong?
Tell us the study's main condition →

Sponsored by Karolinska University Hospital · Observational

Study type
Observational
Model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
218
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The overall aim of the study is to improve understanding of refeeding syndrome (RFS) in patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) using metabolomics. Patients are included as part of a prospective multicenter observational study on phosphate disorders in the ICU. Blood samples are collected day 1-7 of ICU stay. Samples from patients who develop refeeding hypophosphatemia and matched controls without hypophosphatemia are analysed for metabolomics and proteomics. Untargeted analyses will be performed to identify the affected metabolic pathways. The investigators will also perform AUROC analyses to identify potential biomarkers for early detection of RFS.

Read the detailed description

A nested case-control study situated within GUTPHOS Part B: A prospective, multicenter non-interventional cohort study investigating the incidence of abnormal phosphate levels and associated outcomes in adult patients admitted to the ICUs of participating sites. Inclusion/exclusion criteria for GUTPHOS Part B are described in the separate study protocol.

At sites participating in the nested substudy, an additional 2 ml EDTA blood sample is drawn once daily in all patients included in GUTPHOS Part B from ICU admission up to a maximum of calendar day 7 in ICU. The sampling for metabolomics analysis should be performed in close proximity with daily routine blood tests, and always before treatment of hypophosphatemia with phosphate supplementation or restricted nutritional intake. Plasma samples are obtained through centrifugation within 20 minutes and frozen to -80 degrees Celcius within 60 minutes until analysis. The timing and handling of samples according to standard operating procedures will be documented on a separate case report form.

In ICU patients diagnosed with refeeding hypophosphatemia, comprehensive metabolomic profiling is performed in the plasma sample from ICU admission and the sample drawn in conjunction to the blood phosphate measurement diagnostic of RH.

Cases with RH are matched in a 1:1 ratio to ICU patients without RH. Controls are matched according to sex, age, illness severity on admission and energy delivery (kcal/kg adjusted body weight) in the 24 hours preceding the diagnosis of RH.

Refeeding hypophosphatemia is defined as new onset hypophosphatemia (\<0.65 mmol/L) within 72 hours from the start of medical nutrition therapy, with a drop of >0.16 mmol/L from any previous Pi value during ICU stay and where no other likely cause of hypophosphatemia is present.

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Conditions studied

  • Critical Illness
  • Refeeding Syndrome
  • Hypophosphatemia

Browse trials for

03

In context

Refeeding Syndrome Reclassified

24 studies on the registry are indexed under Refeeding Syndrome; 7 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 218 is above the median of 57 across 16 observational studies indexed under Refeeding Syndrome.

Browse Refeeding Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

Karolinska University Hospital is the lead sponsor of 279 studies on the registry; 55 are open to participants now.

Compared within Refeeding Syndrome, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Critical Illness. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No
Sampling method
Non-probability sample

Study population

Patients admitted to the intensive care unit.

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Admission to ICU during the study period
  • Age ≥18 years

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age \<18 years
  • Patients with restrictions of care such as "no intubation" or "no renal replacement therapy" on ICU admission and patients admitted for treatment as organ donors
  • Continuous chronic home ventilation for neuromuscular disease;
  • Declined participation or (if the local ethics committee requests the latter for this non-interventional study);
  • Readmission to ICU during the study period
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(1)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

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Study design

Observational model
Case-control
Time perspective
Prospective
Enrollment
218 participants (actual)
Patient registry
No
Biospecimen retention
Samples without dna

Groups and cohorts

  • Refeeding hypophosphatemia

    ICU patients who fulfill diagnostic criteria for refeeding hypophosphatemia.

    Diagnostic Test: Metabolomics

  • Controls

    ICU patients without refeeding hypophosphatemia. Controls selected to match for sex, age, severity of illness and nutritional delivery prior to refeeding hypophosphatemia.

    Diagnostic Test: Metabolomics

Interventions

  • Diagnostic testMetabolomics

    Analysis of the metabolome in plasma samples.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Metabolomics

    The plasma metabolome (\>300 metabolites related to cell metabolism) will be characterized by mass spectroscopy from blood samples taken at the onset of refeeding syndrome (RFS) and analyzed for specific alterations in metabolic pathways associated with RFS in an untargeted approach.

    Time frame: Onset of RFS, within the first 7 days in ICU.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Metabolomics

    Potential biomarkers in the plasma metabolome (\>300 metabolites related to cell metabolism) associated with the development of refeeding syndrome (RFS) will be identified through principal component analysis and ROC curve analysis.

    Time frame: Prior to onset of RFS, within the first 7 days in ICU.

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Study locations

4 sites
  • University Hospital Královské Vinohrady
    Prague, Czechia
  • University Hospital Policlinico of Foggia
    Foggia, Italy
  • Karolinska University Hospital
    Huddinge, Stockholm 14186, Sweden
  • Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset Solna
    Stockholm, Sweden
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reached

Ran from Apr 2024 to primary completion in Jun 2024, 2 months.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Mar 7, 2024
First posted
Apr 3, 2024
StartActual
Apr 1, 2024
Primary completionActual
Jun 2, 2024
CompletionActual
Jun 2, 2024
Last update
Apr 2, 2025
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 2, 2025, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06344546
Collaborators
Foggia Hospital, Faculty Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady
Responsible party
Martin Sundstrom Rehal (Principal Investigator, Karolinska University Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 3, 2024
Start date
Apr 1, 2024
Primary completion
Jun 2, 2024
Completion
Jun 2, 2024
Last update
Apr 2, 2025

Study contacts

Olav Rooyackers, PhD
study chair · Karolinska University Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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