Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30049697›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2018

Cohort study evaluating pressure ulcer management in clinical practice in the UK following initial presentation in the community: costs and outcomes.

Julian F Guest, Graham W Fuller, Peter Vowden, Kathryn Ruth Vowden

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

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 42 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
42citing papers in PubMed, 9 pooled it
32.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

42 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Dressings and topical agents for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024
    Pooled it
  2. Reconstructive surgery for treating pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022
    Pooled it
  3. Pressure redistributing static chairs for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022
    Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Beds, overlays and mattresses for treating pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  6. Alternating pressure (active) air surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  7. Reactive air surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  8. Pooled it
  9. Foam surfaces for preventing pressure ulcers.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021
    Pooled it
  10. Trial
  11. Article
  12. A randomised control trial to compareJournal of research in nursing : JRN · 2025
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. The Role of Communication in Managing Chronic Lower Limb Wounds.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025
    Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Julian F GuestCatalyst Health Economics Consultants, Rickmansworth, UK.
Graham W FullerCatalyst Health Economics Consultants, Rickmansworth, UK.
Peter VowdenBradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.
Kathryn Ruth VowdenBradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust · GBCatalyst Health Economics Consultants Ltd · GBKing's College London · GBUniversity of Bradford · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThe aim of this study was to estimate the patterns of care and annual levels of healthcare resource use attributable to managing pressure ulcers (PUs) in clinical practice in the community by the UK's National Health Service (NHS), and the associated costs of patient management.

methodsThis was a retrospective cohort analysis of the records of 209 patients identified within a randomly selected population of 6000 patients with any type of wound obtained from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) Database, who developed a PU in the community and excluded hospital-acquired PUs. Patients' characteristics, wound-related health outcomes and healthcare resource use were quantified over 12 months from initial presentation, and the corresponding total NHS cost of patient management was estimated at 2015/2016 prices.

results50% of all the PUs healed within 12 months from initial presentation, but this varied between 100% for category 1 ulcers and 21% for category 4 ulcers. The mean time to healing ranged from 1.0 month for a category 1 ulcer to 8 months for a category 3/4 ulcer and 10 months for an unstageable ulcer. Patients were predominantly managed in the community by nurses with minimal clinical involvement of specialist clinicians. Up to 53% of all the ulcers may have been clinically infected at the time of presentation, and 35% of patients subsequently developed a putative wound infection a mean 4.7 months after initial presentation. The mean NHS cost of wound care over 12 months ranged from £1400 for a category 1 ulcer to >£8500 for the other categories of ulcer. Additionally, the cost of managing an unhealed ulcer was 2.4 times more than that of managing a healed ulcer (mean of £5140 vs £12 300 per ulcer).

conclusionThis study provides important insights into a number of aspects of PU management in clinical practice in the community that have been difficult to ascertain from other studies, and provides the best estimate available of NHS resource use and costs with which to inform policy and budgetary decisions.

Indexed as

Pressure UlcerWound HealingAgedDatabases, FactualFemaleGeneral PracticeHumansKaplan-Meier EstimateMaleRetrospective StudiesSeverity of Illness IndexState MedicineStatistics, NonparametricTreatment OutcomeUnited Kingdomburdencostpressure ulcersUKwounds

Identifiers

PMID30049697
PMCPMC6067374
OpenAlexW2884547731

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.