Prevalence, incidence, length of stay and cost of healthcare-acquired pressure ulcers in pediatric populations: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Pressure ulcers are a major problem for national healthcare systems since they frequently occur in hospitalized patients, negatively affecting patients' quality of life and extending duration of hospitalization. Objective: To systematically review the available evidence regarding the incidence, prevalence, attributable length of stay and cost of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers in pediatric populations. Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A systematic search (March 15, 2020) was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest databases. Cross-sectional and cohort studies of neonates and children aged < 21 years old were eligible for inclusion when full text was available in English and data for at least one of the following criteria was provided: incidence, prevalence, attributable length of stay or healthcare cost due to hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Study quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools. Random effects models were used to synthesize data. Heterogeneity and publication bias were evaluated. Results: From the 1055 studies appeared in literature search, 21 studies were included in the systematic review and 19 were included in the meta-analysis. The overall prevalence ranged from 0.47% to 31.2% and cumulative incidence ranged from 3.7% to 27%. The pooled prevalence was estimated at 7.0% (95% confidence interval (CI): 4.3%-10.4%) and the pooled cumulative incidence at 14.9% (95% CI: 7.7%-23.9%). The pooled prevalence among neonates was 27.0% (95% CI: 22.1%-33.1%) among children aged less than 1 year old was 19.2% (95% CI: 9.4%-31.3%) and among children older than 1 year was 12.3% (95% CI: 2.3%-27.9%). The cumulative incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers in neonates was 9.8% (95% CI: 2.9%-19.8%) and in children aged < 1 year old was 11.3% (95% CI: 4.4%-20.7%), while no data was available to estimate this figure for children older than 1 year. The attributable length of stay ranged from 0.9 to 14.1 days and the attributable cost ranged from $894.69 to $98,730.24 (United States dollars; value of a dollar in 2020) per patient with hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. Conclusions and implications of key findings: The results of this meta-analysis indicate that hospital-acquired pressure ulcers occur frequently in pediatric populations with a great variation across different age groups. Moreover, although limited data are available, it seems that hospital-acquired pressure ulcers have significant economic implications for the healthcare systems since they prolong patients' hospital-ization stay; these findings further highlight the need for implementation of patient-based prevention strategies. Systematic review registration number: Not registered Tweetable abstract: Hospital-acquired pressure ulcers occur frequently in pediatric populations, pro-longing their hospitalization and increasing the healthcare cost. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that hospital-acquired pressure ulcers are common in pediatric populations with significant economic implications for healthcare systems, as they prolong hospitalization and increase costs. The prevalence varies greatly across different age groups, highlighting the importance of patient-based prevention strategies.