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A pressure ulcer refers to necrosis of the skin anddeep tissues resulting from a disruption of normalcapillary circulation due to continuous pressure on acertain area of the body or continuous or repetitivepressure on it caused by a combination of frictionandshearingforces(1).Once it develops, long term hospitalization as wellas medical treatment is necessary and its recurrencerate is high; individual, social, and economic lossfrom it may be enormous(2). In case of Korea, therehave been no precise statistical data released on theincidenceandtreatmentcostsofpressureulcers.Nonetheless, it is estimated that the ever growingnumber of patients with spinal injury caused bytrafficaccidentsandthosewithnervoussystemdis-orders who need long term treatment will increasemedicalexpendituretotreattheirpressureulcers(3).The U.S. reported that its annual medical cost totreat one lesion of a pressure ulcer patient rangedfrom 5,000 to 40,000 dollars(4, 5). Its monthly per-capita treatment cost at long term treatment facili-tieswasbetween261dollarsand1,191dollars(6).Although annual estimated costs varied amongresearchers and research institutes, they were esti-mated to stand at between 1.3 billion dollars and 9billiondollars(7),suggestingthateconomiclosstrig-geredbypressureulcersishuge.According to a variety of research, the older apatient is, the more likely they develops a pressureulcer(8, 9, 10, 11). In elderly people, one of physicalchanges that are directly related with lowered tissueresistanceagainstpressureulcersisdecreasedmus-cle elasticity. Elderly people often have chronic dis-easesthatlimitmobilityincludingparalysis.Further,theirphysicalconditionslikearteriosclerosisand sensory organ disorders and decreased amountof exercise raise a high risk of developing pressureulcers. As a result, they easily succumb to pressureulcersevenwithsmalloutsidepressure(12).According |
