Hispanic Nursing Home Residents More Likely Than White Counterparts To Develop Bedsores, Study Finds

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Also Included In: Dermatology;  Caregivers / Homecare;  Public Health
Article Date: 20 Apr 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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Hispanic nursing home patients are more likely than their white counterparts to develop bedsores, or pressure ulcers, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, the Providence Business News reports. Lead researcher Michael Gerardo, an adjunct assistant professor of community health at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, analyzed data on 74,343 urban nursing home residents in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, focusing on bedsore rates.

The study found that overall, 8.2% of the nursing home residents had developed stage II to stage IV pressure ulcers. Among Hispanics, the rate was 9.7%, compared with 7.6% for whites and 12.1% for non-Hispanic blacks. In addition, the study found that the prevalence of bedsores was significantly higher at nursing homes that serve a large number of Hispanics (Providence Business News, 4/16). Gerardo said that the findings might not suggest that Hispanics receive unequal treatment than other patients but that they might be more likely to be treated at lower-quality, underfunded facilities (Emery, Providence Journal, 4/10).

An abstract of the study is available online.

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