Incidence of pressure ulcers in cardiopulmonary intensive care unit patients

Objective: Identify and analyze the incidence coefficients of pressure ulcers (PU) and the risk factors for PU development in critical patients with cardiopulmonary diseases. Method: A prospective cohort study conducted in the cardiopulmonary intensive care unit (ICU) of a large hospital in the city of Sao Paulo, from November 2013 to February 2014. In total, 370 patients over 18 years old who did not present PU at admission and who had been in the ICU for less than 24 hours were studied. Data were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analyses (Classification And Regression Tree-CART). Results: The incidence coefficients of PU were: 11.0% for total participants, 8.0% for male and 3.0% for female patients (p=0.018); 10.0% for white patients and 6.5% for patients 60 years or older. The main risk factors were length of stay in the ICU for 9.5 days or more, age 42.5 years or older, and being of the white race. Conclusion: This study was related to the epidemiology of PU in critical patients with cardiopulmonary diseases, facilitating the planning of specific preventive care for these patients.