An epidemiological analysis of 536 older adult patients with chronic wounds

Mingming ZHANG; Naihang GE

ABSTRACT

Objective:

To investigate the clinical characteristics of older adult patients with chronic wounds and perform an epidemiological analysis.

Methods:

The general data, wound information, treatment information, and health economics information of 536 older adult patients with chronic wounds who received treatment in Yancheng No. 1 People's Hospital from January 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. All collected data were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 software.

Results:

Among older adult patients with chronic wounds, there were more men ( n = 316, 59.0%) than women ( n = 220, 41.0%). The number of patients aged 60-70 years ( n = 252, 47.0%) was the highest, and the number of patients aged > 80 years ( n = 98, 18.3%) among all age brackets. All patients had underlying diseases. The main wound types were diabetic wounds ( n = 134, 25.0%), venous wounds ( n = 94, 17.5%), and arterial wounds ( n = 81, 15.1%). There was a significant difference in the distribution of wound types among patients at different ages ( χ2 = 90.63, P < 0.001). The wounds were mainly located in the lower limbs ( n = 510, 74.0%) and sacral and sacrococcygeal regions ( n = 117, 17.0%). The results of wound pathogen detection showed that the proportion of gram-negative bacteria was the highest. There were no significant differences in treatment efficiency, length of hospital stay, and hospital cost among patients receiving different treatments ( χ2 = 82.46, H = 104.84, 202.01, all P < 0.001). There was a significant difference in outcome among patients at different ages ( χ2 = 15.12, P = 0.012). There was no significant difference in treatment efficiency among patients with different types of wounds ( χ2 = 12.01, P = 0.100). There were significant differences in the length of hospital stay and hospital cost among patients with different types of wounds ( H = 82.17, 49.84, both P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in the length of hospital stay and hospital cost among patients of different ages ( H = 1.42, 3.09, P = 0.492, 0.214).

Conclusion:

The older adult patients with chronic wounds are mainly male, and the majority of them had underlying diseases. Diabetic wounds were the main wound type. Chronic wounds mainly occur in the sacral and sacrococcygeal regions. The rate of gram-negative bacteria is high. Surgical efficiency for chronic wounds is very good.