• Shannon McCord, Virginia McElvain, Ramesh Sachdeva, Pat Schwartz, and Larry S Jefferson.
• Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA. Sxmccord@texaschildrenshospital.org
• J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2004 Jul 1; 31 (4): 179-83.

ObjectiveTo identify risk factors that are associated with the development of pressure ulcers in children admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).DesignCase control study with no interventions held in a 30-bed PICU of Texas Children's Hospital, Houston.Setting And SubjectsThe study included 59 patients who developed pressure ulcers in the PICU and 59 patients who were critically ill who did not develop pressure ulcers during the same time period.InstrumentsRisk assessment data collection tool and Braden scale.MethodsA comparison was done to identify risk factors between 2 groups of pediatric patients with and without pressure ulcers. A 45-indicator assessment tool was used. Physical assessment including staging of pressure ulcers was performed.ResultsRisk factors associated with pressure ulcers include edema (P = .0016), length of stay > 96 hours (P = .001), increasing positive end expiratory pressure (P = .002), not turning the patient or use of a specialty bed in the turning mode (P = .0001), and weight loss (P < .0001).ConclusionsThe presence of edema, increasing length of stay, patients on increasing positive-end expiratory pressure, not turning the patient, use of a specialty bed in the turning mode, and weight loss are associated with the increased risk of development of pressure ulcers in patients in the PICU.

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