Skin Wounds and Trauma Research Centre, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
Int Wound J. 2024 Oct;21(10):e70058. doi: 10.1111/iwj.70058.
There is growing interest in the roles of temperature, epidermal hydration (EH) and pain in pressure ulcer (PU) development. Investigating correlations between these measures and sub-epidermal moisture (SEM) will address this knowledge deficit. A prospective observational study enrolled 60 surgical patients from February to November 2021. SEM, temperature, EH and pain were assessed using a SEM scanner, thermography imaging, skin hydration device and numeric pain intensity scale, respectively. Measurements were taken at the sacrum, both heels and a control site, before and after surgery for 3 days. Data were analysed using Pearson or Spearman's correlation. Of the participants, 50% were male with a mean age of 58 years (±13.46). Low positive/negative correlations between SEM and temperature were found at the sacrum. However, after removing outliers, these results were not statistically significant. Other sites and follow-up days showed negligible correlations. No evidence of a correlation, to low correlations between SEM and EH were observed, but unreliable due to little variation in EH at the heels. Pain showed negligible correlations with SEM. This study did not find consistent evidence of a correlation between SEM, temperature, EH and pain, highlighting the unreliability of temperature and EH for early PU detection. Post-operative pain may also confound accurate pain assessments.
人们对温度、表皮水分（EH）和疼痛在压疮（PU）发展中的作用越来越感兴趣。研究这些措施与表皮下水分（SEM）之间的相关性将解决这一知识空白。一项前瞻性观察研究于 2021 年 2 月至 11 月招募了 60 名外科患者。使用 SEM 扫描仪、热成像、皮肤水分仪和数字疼痛强度量表分别评估 SEM、温度、EH 和疼痛。在手术前和手术后 3 天，分别在骶骨、两个脚跟和一个对照部位进行测量。使用 Pearson 或 Spearman 相关性分析数据。参与者中，50%为男性，平均年龄为 58 岁（±13.46）。在骶骨处发现 SEM 与温度之间存在低正/负相关。然而，去除离群值后，这些结果在统计学上并不显著。其他部位和随访日的相关性可忽略不计。SEM 与 EH 之间没有相关性或相关性很低的证据，但由于脚跟处 EH 变化不大，因此结果不可靠。疼痛与 SEM 之间的相关性可忽略不计。本研究没有发现 SEM、温度、EH 和疼痛之间存在一致相关性的证据，这突出了温度和 EH 用于早期 PU 检测的不可靠性。术后疼痛也可能混淆准确的疼痛评估。
