ArticleBMJ open2018
Opportunities for better value wound care: a multiservice, cross-sectional survey of complex wounds and their care in a UK community population.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reduced Clinical and Economic Burden Through Evidence-Based Dressing Selection for Wound Management: Findings From a Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.International wound journal · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Health Interventions for Chronic Wound Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Compression for preventing recurrence of venous ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness analysis of the treatment with compressive therapy in the healing of venous ulcers.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2023Pooled it
- Beds, overlays and mattresses for preventing and treating pressure ulcers: an overview of Cochrane Reviews and network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Compression bandages or stockings versus no compression for treating venous leg ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Alternating pressure (active) air surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Beds, overlays and mattresses for treating pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Reactive air surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Foam surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Alternative reactive support surfaces (non-foam and non-air-filled) for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Independent Prognostic Factors for Predicting Wound Healing in People With Venous Leg Ulcers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Wound repair and regeneration : official publication of the Wound Healing Society [and] the European Tissue Repair SocietyPooled it
- Trial
- Compression therapies for venous leg ulcers: The VENous Ulcer Study 6 (VenUS 6), an open, multicentre, randomised clinical trial.PLoS medicine · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Feasibility of a prospective cohort study to support future investigation of prognostic factors for venous leg ulcer healing.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Performance, safety, and limitations of multimodal large language models in wound image assessment.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A Patient Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Wound Prevention and Care in Canada: Grounded in Stories and Guided by Co-Design and Community-Based Participatory Principles.International wound journal · 2026Article
- Barriers to and enablers of prophylactic compression use by people at risk of venous leg ulcer recurrence: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Navigating artificial intelligence in home healthcare: challenges and opportunities in nursing wound care.BMC nursing · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundComplex wounds impose a substantial health economic burden worldwide. As wound care is managed across multiple settings by a range of healthcare professionals with varying levels of expertise, the actual care delivered can vary considerably and result in the underuse of evidence-based interventions, the overuse of interventions supported by limited evidence and low value healthcare.
objectivesTo quantify the number, type and management of complex wounds being treated over a two-week period and to explore variations in care by comparing current practices in wound assessment, prevention and treatment.
designA multiservice cross-sectional survey.
settingThis survey spanned eight community services within five Northern England NHS Trusts.
resultsThe point prevalence of complex wounds in this community-based population was 16.4 per 10 000 (95% CI 15.9 to 17.0). Based on data from 3179 patients, antimicrobial dressings were being used as the primary dressing for 36% of patients with complex wounds. Forty per cent of people with leg ulcers either had not received the recommended Doppler-aided Ankle Brachial Pressure Index assessment or it was unclear whether a recording had been taken. Thirty-one per cent of patients whose most severe wound was a venous leg ulcer were not receiving compression therapy, and there was limited use of two-layer compression hosiery. Of patients with a pressure ulcer, 39% were not using a pressure-relieving cushion or mattress.
conclusionsMarked variations were found in care, underuse of evidence-based practices and overuse of practices that are not supported by robust research evidence. Significant opportunities for delivering better value wound care therefore exist. Efforts should now focus on developing strategies to identify, assess and disinvest from products and practices supported by little or no evidence and enhance the uptake of those that are.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.