Multicentre study of pressure ulcer point prevalence in a Portuguese region

To conduct an exploratory investigation concerning the prevalence of Pressure Ulcers in different care settings, in the Portuguese region of Cova da Beira.

Descriptive cross-sectional multicenter analysis through direct skin assessment of 473 persons with at least one wound that gave informed consent and were in the care settings of this investigation. Research was conducted during the second weeks of February and June 2018, involving 295 hospital inpatients, 993 residents from nursing homes and 85.655 persons from primary health care centers.

A total of 115 pressure ulcers were documented, representing 18.3% of all identified wounds, most of them grade 3. Most of pressure ulcers were acquired in nursing homes, during hospital admission or at home. Pressure ulcer point prevalence rates identified corresponded to 5.76% amongst hospitalized persons, 4.03% in nursing home residents and 0.02% in community population. Within population with wounds, older age, having more wounds, more PU, being immobile and congestive heart failure were associated and had a statistically significant difference in participants with at least one pressure ulcer.

The prevalence rates of participants with pressure ulcers of our study were similar to published international literature. We identified a higher frequency and prevalence of severe ulcers (grade 3 and 4) in hospital and nursing home populations, highlighting the need for implementing global prevention programs. Although we acknowledged many study limitations, this investigation was the first known attempt to conduct a multicenter analysis of wound epidemiology in Portugal, which included all care settings.