Clinical-epidemiological profile of patients with pressure injuries in the hospital context

Abstract

Objective: describe the clinical-epidemiological profile of patients with pressure injuries admitted to a university hospital. Method: descriptive study with 122 patients with pressure injuries admitted to a university hospital between January 2018 and December 2019. Data were collected from patients’ medical records and from the Serviço Assistencial de Cuidados com a Pele (Skin Care Assistance Service) database. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results: pressure injuries predominated among adults and the elderly, browns, who studied up to elementary school and had no partner. There was a similarity between the sexes. The patients had, mainly, infectious disease, one or more comorbidities, nutritional alteration, mixed incontinence and used nutritional therapy, but did not present dermatitis associated with incontinence and smoking history. Most patients were classified as high risk of pressure injury. The study totaled 237 lesions, most of which were acquired before admission, not classifiable, located in the sacrococcygeal region, treated topically with hydrogel with alginate and hydrocolloid, and not healed at the time of hospital discharge. Conclusion: the studydescribed important aspects of the characterization of pressure injuries, as well as the people affected by this serious health problem, which can optimize prevention and treatment actions.

Epidemiological profile of patients with chronic lower extremity ulcers in two public hospitals in southern Brazil

“…In the study conducted in Bauru 5 , there was a greater proportion of obese patients than in the current study: 43.90% (against 33.82%), and there was no case of low BMI (whereas 4.41% of patients in this study were underweight). Studies evaluating specifically patients with pressure injuries [21][22][23]27 found a higher proportion of patients with nutritional status deficiencies: 56.6% of 122 patients in the city of Aracaju, in the Brazilian state of Sergipe, were either underweight or obese 21 ; and an analysis of 324 institutionalized elderly in the city of João Pessoa, in the Brazilian state of Paraíba, found that patients with a nutritional status impairment had a 3.021 odds ratio of presenting a pressure injury 22 . A multicentric study 23 assessing 473 patients in seven different Brazilian state capitals found malnutrition to be one of the main risk factors for the development of pressure injuries (odds ratio of 10.46).…”

“…Comparatively, smoking and/or alcoholism were present in 19.8% of 101 patients with venous ulcers in the city of Natal, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, and in 21.4% of 70 patients in the city of Évora, in Portugal 4 . Only 8.2% out of 122 inpatients with pressure injuries in Aracaju had a story of smoking 21 . Smoking is related to worse healing outcomes, besides contributing to the pathogenesis of some lesions, such as arterial ulcers 11,16 .…”

“…In the least developed or developing countries, the main causes of CLEU are infectious and neoplastic 19,20 . There are few studies about the clinical and epidemiological profile of CLEU patients in Brazil, a country characterized by a double burden of diseases: while better life expectancy has led to an increase in chronic diseases such as DM and vascular disease, there is still a high prevalence of infectious diseases and of food insecurity resulting in malnutrition [21][22][23][24] . Public health problems unfortunately keep Brazil as the second country in the world regarding the number of leprosy cases, a disease which is a common cause of peripheral neuropathy and that may contribute to development of ulcers 25 .…”