Pressure Ulcer and Mortality Risk after Surgical Treatment of Proximal Femoral Fractures in the Elderly
Abstract
We aimed to determine the incidence of pressure sores and their effect on survival in patients older than 70 years who underwent surgery for hip fracture, and to identify the factors which were associated with an increased risk of pressure sores. In patients older than 70 years undergoing surgery for hip fracture, the development of pressure ulcers had a significant effect on reduced survival, with the highest significance for ulcers in the calcaneal region.
Factors significantly increasing the risk of ulcer development were male gender, morbidity before injury and pre-existing chronic complications. The presence of acute complications was of boundary significance.
The study did not show any significant effect of age, pre-morbidities, time to surgery, patient's living environment before injury, fracture type, type of anaesthesia or surgical procedure used on the incidence of pressure ulcers.