Epidemiological investigation on clinical characteristics of 801 inpatients with chronic wounds

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of 801 inpatients with chronic wounds. Methods The medical records of patients with chronic wounds who were admitted to the General Hospital of Southern Theater Command of PLA (hereinafter referred to as the author′s unit) from January 2013 to December 2017, including gender, occupation, wound type, age, department distribution, recovery status, recovery time, hospitalization time, hospitalization cost, treatment method, clinical outcome, and medical expenses were retrospectively analyzed. Data were statistically analyzed with chi-square test, Fisher′s exact probability test, and Kruskal-Wallis H test. Results Of 245 037 inpatients admitted to the author′s unit within 5 years, 801 (3.3‰) patients with chronic wounds met the inclusion criteria. The composition ratio of chronic wound patients during the 5 years was 2.4‰ (106/44 230)-3.9‰ (191/49 342). Among chronic wound patients, there were 527 males and 274 females, with manual labor, retired, and unemployed patients accounted for a large proportion. The main type of chronic wound was unhealed wound after surgery, accounting for 28.2% (226/801), followed by diabetic wound, accounting for 22.7% (182/801) and traumatic wound, accounting for 16.5% (132/801). There was statistically significant difference in gender distribution of patients with different types of chronic wounds (χ²=28.236, P<0.05). The main types of wound in male patients were unhealed wound after surgery, diabetic wound, and traumatic wound, while the main types of wound in female patients were diabetic wound and unhealed wound after surgery. There was statistically significant difference in the age group distribution of patients with different types of chronic wounds (P<0.01). Patients aged 41-60 years had a high incidence of unhealed wound after surgery and traumatic wound, and patients aged 61-80 years had a high incidence of diabetic wound. Patients with chronic wounds in department of orthopedics had the highest recovery rate, followed by comprehensive department. There were statistically significant differences in hospitalization time and hospitalization cost of patients with chronic wounds admitted to different departments (χ²=47.390, 107.390, P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in cure status and cure time of patients with chronic wounds admitted to different departments (χ²=7.163, 15.510, P>0.05). Patients treated with surgery in combination with drug had higher recovery rates than patients given other treatment methods. There was no statistically significant difference in the cure rate of patients with different treatment methods (χ²=7.600, P>0.05). There were statistically significant differences in cure time, hospitalization cost, and hospitalization time of patients given different treatment methods (χ²=38.067, 130.520, 130.890, P<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in hospitalization cost and hospitalization time of patients with different clinical outcomes (χ²=2.070, 5.790, P>0.05). The total medical cost of 801 patients with chronic wounds was about 47 million yuan, of which the total hospitalization cost per capita was 50, 725 yuan, with a minimum of 1 164 yuan and a maximum of about 1.16 million yuan per capita, and with drug and materials costs accounted for high proportions of the total cost. Conclusions Patients with chronic wounds in the author′s unit are mainly physical labor and middle-aged and elderly people, with more male patients than female patients. The main type of wound is unhealed wound after surgery, which brings serious economic burden to the patients and the society. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the public knowledge about chronic wounds and improve the awareness of prevention and treatment.