ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Acta Vulnologica 2010 June;8(2):87-92

Copyright © 2010 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Observational study of the use of antidecubitus mattress covers in the prevention and care of pressure ulcers

Mastrangelo D., Farina E., Gallicchio V., De Anna D., Bresadola F.

¹ U.F. Chirurgia Vascolare ed Endovascolare, Casa di Cura Villa Del Sole, Caserta, Italia 2 Clinica Chirurgica, Università degli Studi di Udine, Udine, Italia

Pressure ulcers are an emerging entity. Population aging and longer survival of frail persons have led to an increase of between 2% and 40% in acute and long-term hospitalization, with augmented care and economic burdens. In this study, an antidecubitus mattress cover with an elastically deformable air cushion (1 cm thick) was tested to evaluate performance in terms of pressure ulcer prevention and treatment. The study was composed of two arms: in the observational arm, pressure ulcer prevention in low-risk bedridden patients according to the Norton scale; in the randomization arm, antidecubitus mattress cover performance in repair of lesions was evaluated. The results showed that decubitus ulcers were prevented in 50 subjects followed up for three months. The predetermined results were attained 1 week sooner in the treatment group than in the control group.