Prevalence of pressure ulcers in long-term care: a global review

To identify and update the prevalence and incidence of pressure ulcers (PUs) in several countries, in people with long-term conditions resident in care homes or nursing homes.

We followed the PRISMA guideline for systematic reviews. However, due to funding constraints we do not claim this review to be systematic but it is a narrative review informed by PRISMA. Medline, Embase and CINHAL were searched for observational studies reporting incidence or prevalence data. Data reported relevant head-to-toe examination of PUs in residence in care or nursing homes. Internal and external validity of the included studies were assessed using the checklist devised by Hoy et al.¹.

Inclusion criteria was met by 17 studies and included in the study. Some studies gave a full breakdown by category, some only gave overall figures, and others excluded category I PUs. However, within those constraints certain patterns are clear. Prevalence rates varied from 3.4-32.4%. Large differences in prevalence in different countries were not explained by methodological differences. While some countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and the US had robust data, other countries, such as the UK, had none.

PUs are a common problem in long-term care. However, there are substantial differences between countries and many countries have no published data.