Risk Factors for Non-Healing Wounds-A Single-Centre Study

Area of Science:

• Wound healing research
• Clinical outcomes analysis
• Infectious disease epidemiology

Background:

• Chronic wounds pose significant clinical and economic burdens.
• Understanding risk factors is crucial for effective wound management.
• Various etiologies contribute to the challenge of chronic wound healing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and objectify risk factors influencing chronic wound healing outcomes.
• To determine factors affecting the duration of healing for chronic wounds.
• To analyze local and systemic predictors of non-healing wounds.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 149 patients treated for non-healing wounds (8/2021-9/2023).
• Data collection on wound etiology, local characteristics, systemic factors, and microbiological findings.
• Statistical analysis to correlate risk factors with healing outcomes and duration.

Main Results:

• Predominant wound causes: diabetes, post-trauma, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, vascular ulcers.
• Successful wound resolution in 77.2% (mean 110.9 days); amputation in 14.1%; death in 8.7%.
• Local factors (depth, secretion, inflammation, size) and systemic factors (atherosclerosis) predicted non-healing. Bacterial infection, particularly Proteus and Pseudomonas, significantly prolonged healing time.

Conclusions:

• Early identification of local and systemic risk factors is vital for successful chronic wound resolution.
• Bacterial infections are a dominant risk factor for prolonged wound healing duration.
• Targeting identified risk factors can improve healing success rates and reduce treatment duration.