Compression therapy for NHS inpatients with leg ulcers: a literature review

Leg ulcers are common, distressing and painful for patients, and are a significant financial burden to healthcare providers. Compression therapy is the mainstay of treatment for venous leg ulceration. Several studies have evaluated leg ulcer management and compression therapy in the community. However, little is known about the prevalence of leg ulceration and use of compression therapy in acute hospitals. The aim of this study was to explore the published literature on the use of compression therapy for inpatients with leg ulcers in UK National Health Service hospital settings.

A literature search was undertaken to identify published papers reporting on inpatient leg ulcer populations and the use of compression therapy in hospitals using the following databases: CINAHL, MEDLINE Complete, Embase and PubMed.

The literature review identified 364 articles, of which three met the eligibility criteria. These studies reported on the prevalence of leg ulceration, the number of Doppler assessments conducted for patients and the use of compression therapy.

This review confirmed a lack of information on the prevalence of hospital inpatients with leg ulcers, and identified the need to conduct prevalence audits, establish leg ulcer services to streamline inpatient leg ulcer care and provide staff and patient education programmes.