Dependency-related skin lesions in the prone critical patient. Incidence study

To determine the incidence of dependence-related skin lesions (DRSL) in patients in prone position (PP) and to identify the predisposing factors.

Follow-up study in two polyvalent intensive care units. Patients undergoing invasive mechanical ventilation and PP with no skin lesions on admission were included. We recorded the 3 types of DRSL: (pressure ulcers [PU], moisture-associated skin damage [MASD] and friction injuries [FI]), demographic variables, diagnosis, length of stay, PP episodes, postural changes, APACHE II (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Disease Classification System), prealbumin level on admission, body mass index (BMI), diabetes, hypertension, smoking, peripheral vascular disease (PVD), vasoactive drugs, Braden scale and mortality. Bivariate analysis: chi-square test, t-test or Mann-Whitney U test. Multivariate analysis: logistic regression.

Forty nine patients were included and 170PP were performed.Forty-one DRSL appeared in 22 patients with a cumulative incidence of 44.9% (95%CI: 31.6-58.7). PU accounted for 63.4% (73.1% facial; 76.9% stage II), 12.2% were MASD (60% inguinal; 60% stage II) and 24.4% were FI (50% thoracic; 70% stage III). The median age of the lesion group (LG) was 66.5 [61.8-71.3] vs. 64 [43-71] years old in the non-lesion group (NLG), p=0.04. Eighty percent of the LG had PVD vs. 20% of the NLG, p=0.03. The median total hours on PP of the LG was 96.9 [56.1-149.4] vs. 38.2 [18.8-57] of the NIG, p<0.001. Multivariate analysis selected total PP hours (OR=1.03; 95%CI:1.01-1.05) and PVD (OR=8.9; 95%CI:1.3-58.9) as predisposing factors for developing DRSL.

There is a high incidence of skin lesions related to prone decubitus dependence, mostly pressure lesions, although of low severity.The accumulated hours in probe position and peripheral vascular disease favor their development.