Prevalence And Factors Associated With Skin Tears In Elderly Long-stay Institutions

Prevalence and factors associated with skin tears in elderly long-stay  institutions.

Aim: Identify and analyze the prevalence of skin tears (ST) and demographic and clinical factors associated with its occurrence in institutionalized  elderly.

Method: Epidemiological cross sectional analytical, exploratory study performed in three nursing homes of São Paulo. Data were collected by records consultation, interview with the resident and /or care giver and physical examination of the elderly. The following tools were used for data collection: socio-demographic and clinical data, Mini Mental State Examination test, Katz index and  STAR Classification System. Data were analyzed using Fisher's test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test and logistic regression (backward stepwise).

Results / Discussion: The sample of 69 residents was mostly composed by women (51 / 73.91%), Caucasians (50 / 72.46%), mean age 81 (SD = 9.30) and median 82 years old, some problem in mobility (gait) (58 / 84.06%), visual acuity problems (56 / 81.16%), dependence for activities of daily living (52 / 75.36%), cognitive impairment (51/73, 91%), presence of incontinence (45 / 65.22%) and some degree of malnutrition (underweight = 26 / 37.69%). Eight subjects had 13 ST, resulting in an overall prevalence of 11.6%, and 22.22% for men, 7.84% for women and 10.00% for the caucasians. Eleven (84.6%) ST were located in the lower limbs, predominantly category 3 ST (6 / 46.1%). The presence of hematoma (RC: 9,159 / p:0,017) and senile purpura ( RC: 6,265 / p: 0,033) remained after logistic regression analysis.

Conclusion: The prevalence of ST among institutionalized elderly was 11.6% and the factors associated are hematoma and senile purpura.