Increasing Fluids in Older Adults to Prevent & Treat Pressure Ulcers

Pressure ulcers are prevalent in nursing homes. They heal slowly, cause pain, impair quality of life, and are expensive to treat. Dehydration is a problem in some nursing home residents and under-perfusion a problem in others. Theoretically, providing supplemental fluid to under-hydrated residents should increase fluid in the various fluid compartments of the body, increase subcutaneous oxygen, support skin integrity, enhance pressure ulcer blood flow and pressure ulcer healing, including collagen production. This proposition has not been examined in nursing home residents with pressure ulcers.

The purpose of this randomized clinical trial (RCT) in which subjects serve as their own control is to determine whether administration of supplemental fluid to nursing home residents with or at risk for pressure ulcers enhances collagen deposition. Specifically, this study will determine whether oral administration of supplemental fluid given daily for five days to persons with or at risk for pressure ulcers enhances collagen deposition, increases total body water, augments subcutaneous tissue oxygen, increases pressure ulcer oxygenation, and is safe.

The sample will be nursing home residents at risk for or with pressure ulcers. After consent, baseline measures of collagen deposition, pressure ulcer oxygen, fluid intake, and body water in the various fluid compartments are measured. Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) tubes are used to measure collagen deposition. Bioelectrical impedance is used to measure body water. In the treatment phase, subjects are randomized to one of the two supplemental fluid regimes. Supplemental fluid is administered for five days and collagen deposition, subcutaneous tissue oxygen, pressure ulcer oxygen, and body water in the various compartments again measured. Subjects are monitored for fluid overload. Data are analyzed with RMANOVA and logistic regression techniques.

Inclusion criteria

• Persons age =/> 60 years at risk for pressure ulcers (Braden Scale score <18 or nonblanchable erythema [Stage 1 ulcer]) or with a Stage II-IV pressure ulcer and WBC of at least 2,000/mm3

Exclusion criteria

Those:

• Who have or have had heart failure or renal failure/insufficiency
• Who currently smoke
• With acute illness or having experienced it in the last 7 days
• Taking immunosuppressive drugs
• With an implantable defibrillator
• With a glycosylated hemoglobin of >8%
• With a body mass index is <21 kg/m2 or > 30 kg/m2; and
• Being treated for dehydration.