Prevalence of Bedsores among Elderly Hospitalized in Imam Reza Hospital in Kermanshah: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Pressure ulcer is one of the serious complications of patients, especially the elderly during hospitalization, which increases the cost of health care and decreases the quality of life of the patient, and often results from long stay in the hospital. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the prevalence of bedsores among elderly hospitalized in Imam Reza hospital in Kermanshah. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 5698 patients referred to Imam Reza hospital between 2019 and 2022. The inclusion criteria were more than 65 years old. Wound assessment was performed based on Braden criteria and wound grading by trained experts. After entering the SPSS version 16 software, the data were analyzed using a chi-square test. Results: The average age of the participants in the study was 77.02 ± 8.27 years, and the highest frequency of bedsores (22.3%) was reported in the age group of 65 to 69 years. Wound grades 1 and 4 had the highest and lowest frequency respectively. The chi-square test analysis showed that the degree of wound and the risk assessment of pressure ulcers were not significant according to gender (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the prevalence of bedsores in Imam Reza hospital in Kermanshah is high, therefore, health and medical units can play an important role in preventing bedsores by knowing about the at-risk populations and implementing appropriate preventive strategies.