title: A systematic review of risk factors for the development and recurrence of pressure ulcers in people with spinal cord injuries.
abstract: METHODS
  A systematic review was undertaken, based upon methods recommended for effectiveness questions but adapted to identify observational risk factor (RF) studies.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The literature identifies many RFs for pressure ulcer (PU) recurrence and development; however, RFs independently predictive of PU development in adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) have not been determined. A systematic review was undertaken to identify RFs for PUs for people with SCI.
  
  
  METHODS
  Acute hospital, community and rehabilitation settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electronic searches of MEDLINE, EMbase and Cochrane databases from 1980 to 2011 were completed. Retrieved studies were assessed for eligibility and quality criteria applied by two independent reviewers. Identified RFs were categorised into themes and compared and contrasted with RFs identified for the general PU population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The five studies included 18 RFs. These were classified into six themes: sociodemographic, neurological, functional, clinical, biological and medical care management. RFs for both the general and SCI-specific populations were similar, however, clinical, functional and hospital management emerged as specific RF domains for the SCI population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We identified SCI-specific RFs for the development and recurrence of PUs. However, these findings are based on a small number of studies; highlighting the need for further confirmatory work to reduce PU development and recurrence, and provide a foundation for SCI risk assessment development.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nixon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gorecki
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*