[Decubitus ulcer in the terminal phase: epidemiologic, medicolegal and ethical aspects]

Pressure sores usually result from insufficient preventive measures. They are particularly omnipresent among dying persons in geriatric care. This study deals with prevalence, risk factors and the significance of the nursing environment.

The prevalence of pressure sores among the dead was analysed in a prospective cross-sectional study based on 10,222 postmortem examinations in a crematorium in Hamburg.

The overall prevalence of pressure sores from grades I to IV was 11.2% (grade I: 6.1%, grade II: 3%, grade III: 1.1%, grade IV: 0.9%). A final logistic regression model showed that pressure sores of Grade III or IV were associated with female gender, date of death in the summer, marasmus, stroke history, neurological disease in general, kidney disease, preceding traumatic events and nursery home residence at the time of death. More than half of all the grade IV cases were diagnosed among nursing home residents whereas those who had died in hospitals contributed to only 11.5% of all the grade IV cases (dead from private homes 34.4%). Nursing home residence was associated with female gender, marasmus and stroke history which predisposed to a higher rate of pressure sores.

Nursing homes are confronted with the highest proportion of pressure sores among dying people when compared to hospitals or private home care. Failure to meet the standards of preventive action against pressure sores point to the shortfalls in the present public health sector and nursing home regulations as well as the medical responsibility for supervision of nursing care. Apart from established standards of care, medicolegal assessment of high-grade pressure sores should also take ethical considerations into account when considering maximum therapy goals among dying persons.