Quality of life of patients with pressure ulcers: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Patients suffering from pressure ulcers experience low quality of life, in every dimension of daily living. AIM: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the impact of pressure ulcers on the patients’ quality of life involving mental/emotional, spiritual, physical, social, cognitive dimensions, and pain. METHODS: A systematic literature search of published articles in the English language during the past 15 years was conducted. Articles were identified in the electronic databases of Google Scholar, PubMed, and PsycINFO using the keywords: pressure ulcers, quality of life, emotional dimension, social dimension, physical dimension. The inclusion criteria were: articles relevant to the study topic, written in English, and published between 2004 and 2019. Articles that were secondary studies, such as reviews and meta-analyses, case studies, and articles written in a language other than English, were excluded from the study. The PRISMA method was applied. RESULTS: Fourteen studies were included in this systematic review. Eight were quantitative studies (six cross-sectional, one longitudinal, one multicenter cohort, and one pilot study) and six qualitative (one was based on grounded theory, one pilot study, one case study of mixed methods, one phenomenological study, and one comparative study). The emerging themes were related to the mental/emotional, spiritual, physical, social, cognitive dimensions, and pain. CONCLUSIONS: Pressure ulcers have a negative impact on the patients’ quality of life, especially at a psychological level. Patients’ life is severely affected as they are fully dependent on their supportive environment and health services.