Nutritional parameters at hospital admission as predictors of pressure ulcer development in elective surgery

Nutritional parameters obtained at hospital admission were studied to determine whether they would predict which surgical patients would develop pressure ulcers during a period of up to three weeks of hospitalization. Nutrition parameters were serum albumin, total protein, lymphocyte count, mid-arm muscle circumference, triceps skin fold, and weight change. Lymphocyte count was significant (p = 0.007, adjusted r2 = 0.019) in predicting the development of a pressure ulcer during hospitalization. Because lymphocyte count accounted for less than 2% of the variance, it is not a clinically significant predictor. When nonnutritional pressure ulcer risk factors were controlled for in the regression, no nutritional factors were predictive of ulcer development.