The use of indicators of the regeneration of decubital ulcers in a comprehensive assessment of the nutritional status of patients in a chronic critical illness

Background: Thanks to advances in emergency medical and surgical care, the number of patients experiencing acute critical illnesses is increasing. However, a group of patients in the so-called chronic critical illness (CCI) was formed. In this category of patients, the problem of treating decubital ulcers is relevant, since they are characterized by a combination of prolonged immobilization, severe protein catabolism, neuroendocrine and metabolic disorders, protein-energy malnutrition (PEN) and tissue trophic disorders.

Aims: Analyze the correlation of the degree of regeneration of decubital ulcers according to the Bates-Jenson scale in the modification S.Y.R. in relation to indicators of the nutritional status of patients in the CCI after brain damage.

Materials and methods: The study included 26 patients with pressure ulcers II, III, IV stage with PEN. To evaluate decubital ulcers, the adapted Bates-Jensen scale in the S.Y.R. modification was used. (with graphic model). The severity of PEN was evaluated by a complex of anthropometric (BMI, shoulder circumference, thickness of the skin-fat fold, circumference of the shoulder muscles) and laboratory (transferrin, absolute lymphocyte count) indicators. The dynamics of anthropometric indicators and the results of laboratory studies were separately considered.

Results: As a result, it was found that the change in anthropometric data correlated with laboratory parameters and the healing rate of decubital ulcers in only 26.9% of cases. Moreover, this correlation between the dynamics of transferrin and the absolute number of lymphocytes with the regeneration of decubital ulcers was observed in all patients. The obtained results demonstrated a direct correlation between the dynamics of healing of pressure ulcers and changes in laboratory indicators of nutritional status (as opposed to anthropometry data) in patients who are in a CCI after brain damage.

Conclusions: These findings provide an opportunity to review the weight of indicators in assessing the severity of protein-energy malnutrition, as well as introducing the rate of regeneration of a decubital ulcer in the presence of a patient into the assessment of the nutritional status.