Characteristics of Patients With Community-Acquired Pressure Injuries.
Midori Nagano, Yoshiko Kubo, Akiko Egawa and 2 others
PMID 39739384WHAT IT FOUND
Hospital records grouped 272 patients admitted with pressure injuries already present into three clusters: chronic disease with preserved daily function, low function needing discharge planning, and very high risk with dementia, malnutrition, persistent wounds, and more in-hospital deaths.
Key findings
01Cluster analysis of 272 analysed patients produced three groups: 66 in Group 1, 109 in Group 2 and 96 in Group 3.
02Group 3 had the highest pressure-injury severity, and at discharge 50.2% still had a pressure injury and 28.9% died in hospital.
03Group 1 had high rates of home residence (98.5%), recent outpatient consultation (81.8%) and chemotherapy (27.3%), but 22.7% died in hospital.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study used hospital records from four Tokyo hospitals over one year, so the groups may not match patients in other countries or care systems. It described associations in records and did not test whether any prevention or discharge strategy changes pressure-injury outcomes. The clustering had no external validation, and the authors say preceding studies did not specifically classify community-acquired pressure injuries. Only 272 patients with sufficient risk-factor information were analysed, and missing data could affect the groups. Some discharge pressure-injury status was rated unknown. The study did not separate the effects of multiple conditions and treatments that were present together. The suggested care strategies are authors' recommendations, not tested interventions.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Funding was provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the three clusters as proven ways to prevent pressure injuries. This retrospective record review described differences among patients; it did not test an intervention or show that a nursing action changed outcomes.