[Risk assessment of pressure ulcers occurred in perioperative and hospitalized patients]

To investigate the importance of clinical laboratory data for prevention of pressure ulcer, we measured and compared the clinical laboratory data between patients with and without pressure ulcers in perioperative and hospitalized patients. Pressure ulcers occurred before 1 day after operation in most patients (70%), at mostly sacral part. It was independent on the duration of operation. In the patients with pressure ulcer, serum albumin and lymphocyte count were significantly lower than the patients without pressure ulcer. Just after operation the patients with pressure ulcer showed significantly lower platelet count. Rate of change between before and after operation showed significant difference in albumin and platelet count. As for hospitalized patients with pressure ulcer, zinc concentration was quite low and decreased related with aggravation of pressure ulcer. In conclusion, serum albumin, lymphocyte count, platelet count and zinc were different between the preoperative and hospitalized patients with and without pressure ulcer. Evidence based nutrition using the above laboratory data would be further evaluated.