Prevalence and risk factors of pressure ulcers in a Tunisian hospital.

BACKGROUND: the aim of thisstudywas to investigate the prevalence of pressure ulcers in hospitalized patients at the Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis, measure the risk of their occurrence, analyzepreventive and curative measuresundertaken and evaluatefactorspredisposing to pressure ulcers.

METHODS: A one-day survey was performed in all hospitalized patients. Emergency services, neonatology and pediatrics were excluded. The Braden scale was used to measure the patient's risk for the development of pressure ulcers. Analysis of risk factors was performed using SPSS version 19 software.

RESULTS: A total of 473 patients was included. The mean age was 52.26 years. Nearly 10% of patients had a moderate or a high risk of developing pressure ulcers with a Braden score less than 18. The prevalence of patients with pressure ulcers was 5.3% with a prevalence of 4.7% of nosocomial pressure ulcer. There was no significant difference in prevalence between medical and surgical services. The prevalence was relatively more important in intensive care and general surgery. The most frequent sites were sacrum and heels. Stages 3 (46.4%) and 2 (37.5%) were the mainly stages descriped. Evaluation of management of bedsores formed revealed that half was treated with modern wound dressings. Statistical analysis revealed that a Braden score <18 is correlated with pressure ulcers ( 96% of patients with bedsores. Patients transferred from other services, patients recently operated or those with probably inadequate diet seem to be more at risk of developing pressure ulcers. In contrast, age and sex were not identified as significant risk factors.

CONCLUSION: pressure ulcer remains a significant problem in hospital.  This problem is preventable when applying adequate prevention but its management requires a multidisciplinary approach.