Prevalence and Risk Factors of Pressure Injuries in Norwegian Intensive Care Units: A Secondary Analysis

Area of Science:

• Critical care medicine
• Nursing research
• Patient safety

Background:

• Pressure injuries are a significant complication in critically ill patients, leading to increased morbidity and healthcare costs.
• Limited national data exists on the prevalence of pressure injuries in Norwegian intensive care units (ICUs).
• This study addresses the gap by describing the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors of ICU-acquired pressure injuries in Norway.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of ICU-acquired pressure injuries in Norwegian ICUs.
• To identify the characteristics and common locations of these pressure injuries.
• To investigate associated risk factors for developing pressure injuries during ICU stays.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of Norwegian data from the international DecubICUs study (May 15, 2018).
• Cross-sectional, multicenter study including 119 patients from 25 Norwegian ICUs.
• Prevalence calculated based on the presence of one or more ICU-acquired pressure injuries.

Main Results:

• The prevalence of ICU-acquired pressure injury was 24% (28/119 patients).
• Most injuries were Stage I (71%) and Stage II (27%), commonly on heels and buttocks.
• Length of stay in the ICU (LOS-ICU) was a significant risk factor (OR=1.06/day increase).

Conclusions:

• The 24% prevalence of ICU-acquired pressure injuries in Norway is surprisingly high.
• This highlights the ongoing challenge of pressure injury prevention, even in high-resource settings.
• Emphasizes the need for continued focus on prevention strategies like skin assessment and repositioning.