Background. Identification of nutritional problems can facilitate strategies which need to be employed in the frail, non-cancerous elderly patient with bed sores at the end of their life. Aim of study was to investigate nutritional status among elderly patients with pressure sores.
Material and methods. Newly admitted 313 elderly patients to Home Hospice For Adults were examined and 42 of them were non-cancerous with pressure sores in sacral region of 10–15 cm in diameter. Pressure ulcers severity was assessed due to Torrance scale and second (PS2), third (PS3), fourth (PS4) and fifth (PS5) stages of pressure sores were categorized. There was no patient with first stage severity. Nutritional status was assessed by Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form (MNA-SF). Additionally we assessed complete blood count (CBC), erythrocytes sedimentation rate (ESR), plasma albumin (Alb), lipids and glucose (glu) concentrations, as well as glycated hemoglobin (HbA₁c) level.
Results.
1. All patients were malnourished.
2. The PS5 group had the lowest systolic blood pressure (106 ± 9 mm Hg), albumin concentration (20,4 ± 5,3 g/l), the highest red division width (RDW) (15.3 ± 1.1%) and glucose concentration tendency to drop down.
3. In all 42 persons MNA-SF correlated positively only with glu (R = 0.54; p = 0.0002) and from PS2 to PS4 subgroups, separately.
4. The positive correlation MNA-SF& Alb was found in PS4 subgroup only.
Conclusions. These data suggest that metabolic status may influence the development and the severity of pressure sores in elderly, non-cancerous, frail patients.
Adv. Pall. Med. 2011; 10, 2: 73–78