INTERPRETATION OF PRESSURE-SORE PREVALENCE

Pressure sores result in patient morbidity and mortality as well as co mmanding considerable resources within the British National Health Ser vice. To assess the impact of preventive measures, accurate and reliab le rates of prevalence and incidence are required. This information is likely to be used as a measure of quality of care as well being inclu ded in future purchaser/provider contracting. A number of prevalence s tudies have been carried out in the United Kingdom using a variety of populations and different methods. The methods employed in these studi es need to be considered before any meaningful comparisons can be draw n. In particular, there are variations in the reported rates possibly related to the under-reporting of pressure sore prevalence. This paper describes a recent point prevalence study which suggested that this m ay be the case. The need for caution when comparing crude rates is hig hlighted and the importance of standardizing the methods used for dete rmining prevalence rates is discussed.