A comparison of the efficacy and cost of different venous leg ulcer dressings: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective. To compare the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of simple nonadherent dressings with other more expensive dressing types in the treatment of venous leg ulcers. Study Design. Retrospective cohort study. Location. The leg ulcer clinic at the University Hospital of South Manchester. Subjects and Methods. The healing rates of twelve leg ulcer patients treated with simple nonadherent dressings (e.g., NA Ultra) were compared with an equal number of patients treated with modern dressings to determine differences in healing rates and cost. Main Outcome Measures. Rate of healing as determined by reduction in ulcer area over a specified period of time and total cost of dressing per patient. Results. Simple nonadherent dressings had a mean healing rate of 0.353 cm(2)/week (standard deviation ± 0.319) compared with a mean of 0.415 cm(2)/week (standard deviation ± 0.383) for more expensive dressings. This resulted in a one-tailed p value of 0.251 and a two-tailed p value of 0.508. Multiple regression analysis gave a significance F of 0.8134. Conclusion. The results indicate that the difference in healing rate between simple and modern dressings is not statistically significant. Therefore, the cost of dressing type should be an important factor influencing dressing selection.