Bed sores a growing concern in U.S. hospitals

A division of the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services reports that hospitalization with bed sores increased nearly 80 percent over the last decade. The sores could be an indicator of poor quality nursing care.

Over a half million people in U.S. hospitals are suffering from bed sores, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The agency points out that hospitalizations involving these sores -- called “pressure ulcers” -- increased by nearly 80 percent between 1993 and 2006. People were either admitted to the hospital because of the sores or developed them while being treated for another condition in the hospital, according to AHRQ. Bed sores develop when people can’t move for long periods of time. The inactivity puts pressure on the skin, soft tissue, muscle or bone, causing the sores to develop. Severe cases can lead to life-threatening infections. About 90 percent of the 503,300 patients with bed sores were admitted to the hospital for another illness such as pneumonia, septicemia or urinary tract infections and developed bed sores as a result of their confinement. About 1 in 8 of these patients died. Among the 45,000 cases where the bed sores were the primary reason for hospitalization, 1 in 25 patients died from complications brought on by the sores. AHRQ suggests that the presence of the sores could be a sign of poor nursing care whether at a nursing home, in the hospital or if the patient is being taken care of at home. The agency has developed a program for pressure ulcer prevention in nursing homes. It also funds research on ways to prevent bed sores in hospitals. The nursing home program can be accessed online at AHRQ’s On-Time Quality Improvement for Long-Term Care page. Citation: Russo, C.A. (Thomson Reuters), Steiner, C. (AHRQ) and Spector, W. (AHRQ). Hospitalizations Related to Pressure Ulcers, 2006. HCUP Statistical Brief #64. December 2008. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb64.pdf