Pattern of Pressure Sores in Spinal Injured Patients with in the First Six Months of Injury

Abstract

Background: Before 2006, all our spinal injured patients were nursed on conventional form mattress without pressure redistributing support surface. Pressure sore was a common complication and was a major contributing factor to prolonged hospitalization
Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of pressure sores within the first six months of injury in spinal cord injured (SCI) treated on conventional foam in our setting.
Methods: This was a retrospective study of one hundred and ninety-three spinal patients admitted between January 1997 and December 2005 at National Orthopaedic Hospital Enugu.
Results: There were one hundred and ninety-three patients. One hundred and seventy-six of these patients were males and seventeen were females; giving an overall male female ratio of 10:1. The mean age was 34±4.8 years. Out of 193 patients, ninety-four (49%) developed pressure sore and a total of one hundred and twenty-one pressure sores were documented due to multiplicity of sites. The common sites were sacrum (42%), and greater trochanter (39%). The peak time for developing pressure sore was between 3rd and 4th weeks of admission. The average duration of hospitalisation was 12 weeks (range 8-28weeks) The treatment sores varied from dressing (37%), debridement (21%), to flap cover (37%).
Conclusion: The sacral and the trochanteric pressure sores are very common and they tend to develop around the 3rd and the 4th weeks of admission. It is therefore important for health care providers to be aware of this temporal pattern and take adequate preventive measures.

Key words: Pressure sores, Time, Distribution, Spinal injured patients, Enugu, Nigeria