Toronto - While pressure ulcers are common among people with impaired mobility, a new study has found surprisingly inadequate scientific evidence on the best strategies to prevent them.
The study, led by researchers at Women's College Hospital and Baycrest Geriatric Health Care System in Toronto, is reported in the August 23, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
The late actor Christopher Reeve, best known as "Superman", spoke openly about his struggle with pressure ulcers after being paralyzed in a horseback riding accident. He died at the age of 52 from complications reportedly associated with an infected pressure ulcer.
It is not just spinal cord injury patients who are vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Sixty percent of pressure ulcers develop in patients admitted to hospital. Many of these patients are elderly and/or have diabetes or vascular disease. Immobile patients can develop pressure ulcers within three to six hours of lying on an emergency room stretcher. Elderly persons in long-term care, particularly those who are immobile, incontinent or have dementia, are also at risk.
"Pressure ulcers are common in a variety of settings and are associated with adverse health outcomes and high treatment costs," says lead author Dr. Madhuri Reddy, a geriatrician and chronic wound specialist who conducted the study at Women's College Hospital in collaboration with Baycrest.
"We found that the majority of published studies which have examined interventions to prevent pressure ulcers have been inadequate in their design and have not generated robust scientific evidence from which to develop comprehensive and unequivocal best practice guidelines."
Pressure ulcers can range from a slight discoloration of the skin to open sores that go all the way to the bone. They frequently develop in the tail bone area, hip and heel, may prolong hospital stay and be complicated by pain and infecti
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Contact: Kelly Connelly
kconnelly@baycrest.org
416-785-2432
Baycrest
22-Aug-2006