Pressure injury prevalence and characteristics in patients with COVID-19 admitted to acute inpatient rehabilitation unit.
Weiying Lu, Ona Bloom, Melissa Rathgeber and 1 others
PMID 37077291WHAT IT FOUND
39 of 120 patients admitted to acute inpatient rehabilitation after COVID-19 had pressure injuries, versus 1.7% in 2019.
Patients with pressure injuries had longer ICU and rehabilitation stays, more ventilation, and more tracheostomies.
Key findings
01In the study cohort, 39 of 120 patients had pressure injuries, compared with 1.7% of patients in historical 2019 data from the same facility.
02Patients with pressure injuries had longer ICU stays (34 vs. 15 days) and longer acute rehabilitation stays (22 vs. 17 days), and were more likely to have received mechanical ventilation (59.0% vs. 33%) and tracheostomy (67% vs. 17%).
03Of 70 pressure injuries with location data, 60 were in typical locations and 10 were atypical, including the face and ear.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was retrospective, so it cannot show that COVID-19 or any treatment caused pressure injuries. It included only 120 patients from one hospital, so the results may not apply to other units or populations. The comparison group was historical 2019 data, not non-COVID patients treated at the same unit during the same period, so pandemic-related changes in staffing, isolation, and patient severity may confound the prevalence difference. The paper did not analyse several possible factors, including comorbidities and time to healing, and proning data were limited. Patients with pressure injuries also had longer ICU stays, more ventilation, and more tracheostomies, so pressure injury may be a marker of illness severity rather than a separate outcome.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 32.5% versus 1.7% result as proof that COVID-19 by itself caused more pressure injuries. The comparison was historical, the sample was small, and the pressure injury group also had longer ICU stays, more ventilation, and more tracheostomies.