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The prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients in The Netherlands: a prospective inception cohort study

The prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients in The Netherlands: a prospective inception cohort study
The prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients in The Netherlands: a prospective inception cohort study
Background: Pressure ulcers frequently occur in hospitalised patients. The prevalence of pressure ulcers grade 2 or
worse varies from 3% to 12% in hospitalised patients. Incidence figures are not frequently reported. While incidence
and prevalence are both measures of disease frequency, they provide different perspectives on pressure ulcers.
Objectives: To describe the incidence rate and prevalence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients.
Design: Prospective inception cohort study.
Setting: Two large hospitals, one general (530-beds) and one teaching (1042-beds), in The Netherlands.
Participants: A non-selected, though not strictly random, sample of 1536 patients was eligible for inclusion in the
study. One thousand four hundred and thirty one patients (93.2%) consented to participate. Eventually, 1229 patients
(80%) had a complete follow-up. The sample consisted of patients admitted to the surgical, internal, neurological and
geriatric wards for more than 5 days between January 1999 and June 2000.
Methods: Follow-up once a week until pressure ulcer occurrence, discharge or length of stay over 12 weeks.
Main outcome measures: Occurrence of a pressure ulcer grade 2 or worse during admission to hospital, according to the
classification of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel.
Results: One hundred and thirty four patients developed 172 pressure ulcers during follow-up. The overall weekly
incidence rate was 0.06 per week (95% confidence interval 0.05–0.07 per week). Highest rates were observed for surgical
patients and lowest for geriatric and neurologic patients (0.08 and 0.02, respectively). The week specific prevalence
varied between 12.8% and 20.3%.
Conclusions: Among patients hospitalised for more than 5 days overall one may expect 6% per week to develop
pressure ulcers. It would appear that any preventive measures can only be effective if taken timely. Accordingly, preventive measures should be considered early, because pressure ulcers were observed already within the first week of
admission.
0020-7489
927-935
Schoonhoven, Lisette
46a2705b-c657-409b-b9da-329d5b1b02de
Bousema, MT
a64fe960-647c-416e-b211-c315b2ee7edb
Buskens, E
3a75d36a-53e3-45ee-8b7a-2bf0ca388aff
Schoonhoven, Lisette
46a2705b-c657-409b-b9da-329d5b1b02de
Bousema, MT
a64fe960-647c-416e-b211-c315b2ee7edb
Buskens, E
3a75d36a-53e3-45ee-8b7a-2bf0ca388aff

Schoonhoven, Lisette, Bousema, MT and Buskens, E (2007) The prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients in The Netherlands: a prospective inception cohort study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44 (6), 927-935. (doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.02.011).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Background: Pressure ulcers frequently occur in hospitalised patients. The prevalence of pressure ulcers grade 2 or
worse varies from 3% to 12% in hospitalised patients. Incidence figures are not frequently reported. While incidence
and prevalence are both measures of disease frequency, they provide different perspectives on pressure ulcers.
Objectives: To describe the incidence rate and prevalence of pressure ulcers in hospitalised patients.
Design: Prospective inception cohort study.
Setting: Two large hospitals, one general (530-beds) and one teaching (1042-beds), in The Netherlands.
Participants: A non-selected, though not strictly random, sample of 1536 patients was eligible for inclusion in the
study. One thousand four hundred and thirty one patients (93.2%) consented to participate. Eventually, 1229 patients
(80%) had a complete follow-up. The sample consisted of patients admitted to the surgical, internal, neurological and
geriatric wards for more than 5 days between January 1999 and June 2000.
Methods: Follow-up once a week until pressure ulcer occurrence, discharge or length of stay over 12 weeks.
Main outcome measures: Occurrence of a pressure ulcer grade 2 or worse during admission to hospital, according to the
classification of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel.
Results: One hundred and thirty four patients developed 172 pressure ulcers during follow-up. The overall weekly
incidence rate was 0.06 per week (95% confidence interval 0.05–0.07 per week). Highest rates were observed for surgical
patients and lowest for geriatric and neurologic patients (0.08 and 0.02, respectively). The week specific prevalence
varied between 12.8% and 20.3%.
Conclusions: Among patients hospitalised for more than 5 days overall one may expect 6% per week to develop
pressure ulcers. It would appear that any preventive measures can only be effective if taken timely. Accordingly, preventive measures should be considered early, because pressure ulcers were observed already within the first week of
admission.

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Published date: August 2007
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 339724
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/339724
ISSN: 0020-7489
PURE UUID: 5c904be0-227f-40bc-b8a2-0e3e31c8f1ae
ORCID for Lisette Schoonhoven: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7129-3766

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Date deposited: 29 May 2012 16:07
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:41

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Author: MT Bousema
Author: E Buskens

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