Intrinsic factors associated with pressure sores in elderly people.

As a preliminary to a larger, prospective study of intrinsic factors associated with pressure sore development in a population of elderly hospital in-patients, this retrospective study of patients who had participated in an earlier, unrelated study was completed. The results of biochemical and haematological analyses from admission, together with details of nursing care, were obtained from medical and nursing notes, and analysed in relation to the condition of the pressure areas of each patient, which had been documented by a single observer throughout the period of study. The relationships between intrinsic factors such as serum protein concentration and systolic blood pressure, and the presence of, or tendency to develop pressure sores is examined and discussed in the light of a need for more specific and sensitive risk assessment tools.