Personality and Behavioral Predictors of Pressure Ulcer History

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assess the relationship of psychological, environmental, and behavioral factors with pressure ulcers (PUs) in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: A total of 1,549 participants from a large rehabilitation hospital in the southeast United States answered questions regarding outcomes after SCI. Variables from each set of factors were entered sequentially into the model: (1) psychological and environmental, and (2) behavioral. RESULTS: Forty-eight percent of participants reported having a PU in the past year. After entering behavioral variables into the model, all environmental and psychological variables became nonsignificant. Odds of having a PU increased 28% with each psychotropic medication taken weekly. Persons who smoked one or more packs of cigarettes daily had 2.82 times the odds of having a PU than persons who did not smoke. Increased hours out of bed were protective against PUs. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the importance of health behaviors in the occurrence of PUs after SCI. These health behaviors provide important targets for intervention for health care providers.