Predictive Factors for Pressure Ulcers in an Older Adult Population Hospitalized for Hip Fractures: A Prognostic Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Older adult patients with fragility hip fractures constitute a population at high risk for complications, in particular pressure ulcers. The aim was to evaluate the incidence of pressure ulcers and potential predictive factors. METHODS AND FINDINGS: A prospective multicentric prognostic cohort study in orthopedic wards in three Italian public hospitals. Participants were all consecutive patients 65 years of age or older diagnosed with a fragility hip fracture. Outcomes were incidence of pressure ulcers. The exposure variables were grouped into three macro areas in order to facilitate reading: “intrinsic” variables, “extrinsic” variables and variables linked to the organization of patient care. One thousand eighty-three older adult patients with fragility hip fractures were enrolled from October 1(st), 2013 to January 31(st), 2015, and pressure ulcers developed in 22.7%. At multivariate analysis, the following were found to be risk factors: age> 80 years (odds ratio (OR) 1.03; p = 0.015), the length of time a urinary catheter was used (OR 1.013; p<0.001), the length of time pain was present (OR 1.008; p = 0.008), the absence of side rails on the bed (OR 1.668; p = 0.026) and the use of a foam position valve (OR 1.025; p<0.001). Instead, the protective factors were the presence of a caregiver for at least half a day daily (OR 0.994; p = 0.012) and the number of positionings during the postoperative period (OR 0.897; p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: The study allowed the identification of the patients most at risk for developing pressure ulcers, and the construction of a pragmatic predictive model using significant risk or protective factors in order to reduce the number of pressure ulcers.