Incidence and prevalence of pressure injury in adult cardiac patients admitted to intensive care : A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background
Pressure injury is recognised as an adverse event occurring in healthcare settings. Patients in intensive care are at high risk of developing a pressure injury. Cardiac patients are also among those at higher risk.

Objectives
To systematically assess the incidence and prevalence of pressure injury in adult cardiac patients admitted to intensive care.

Design
Systematic review and meta-analysis of incidence and prevalence

Review methods
Articles published in English between 2009 and 2018, reporting pressure injury as a primary outcome were selected based on inclusion criteria. Two authors assessed study bias and extracted data, with a third reviewer as arbitrator. A random effects meta-analysis was conducted. Sub-group meta-analyses were conducted to investigate potential causes of heterogeneity.

Results
Fifteen studies met the criteria for inclusion in the systematic review, of which 14 were incidence studies. Heterogeneity was significant and there was large observed variance between studies. The 95% confidence interval of cumulative incidence across all 14 studies, with an overall sample size of 6371, was 9.8–25.6%. In 11 studies that included all-stage pressure injury the 95% confidence interval was 8.3–28.3%. In seven studies in which Stage 1 pressure injury was excluded, the 95% confidence interval was 5.8–22.7%. In the single prevalence study included, which excluded Stage 1 pressure injury, prevalence was 8.8%.

Conclusions
The incidence of pressure injury in cardiac intensive care patients was similar to that found in general intensive care patients. However, our results suggest that the incidence may be significantly higher in cardiac surgical patients admitted to intensive care. There were significant differences across the various studies in the ways in which data were collected and reported. Further well-designed studies are required to better understand incidence in this population, using standardised methods of data collection and reporting.