Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) to Predict Pressure Ulcer Risk in Intensive Care Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Pressure ulcer (PU) risk assessment practices in adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients remain varied. PURPOSE The authors assessed the performance of the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scale and its subcategories in predicting the development of PUs. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was conducted of all adult patients admitted to the mixed medical-surgical ICU of a Finnish tertiary referral hospital between January 2010 and December 2012. Data (diagnoses, demographics, clinical information, treatments, and instrument scores) were retrieved from the ICU database. Wilcoxon and chi-squared tests were used to examine patient subgroup (medical or surgical ICU and intensive care or high-dependency care patients), length of ICU stay (LOS), modified Jackson/Cubbin (mJ/C) scores and SOFA subcategory variables, and first-day SOFA scores. PU association was determined by logistical regression. RESULTS Among the 4899 patients in the study population, the overall PU incidence of acquired PUs was 8.1%. Medical patients had significantly more PUs (145/1281; 11.3%) than surgical patients (212/3468; 6.1%) (P <.0001). In all subgroups, significantly more patients with PUs had higher SOFA scores (mean 8.24) than patients without PUs (mean 6.74) (P =.001). The difference persisted when patients with LOS ≥3 days in the ICU were considered. Among the SOFA subcategories, the Glasgow Coma score, renal and respiratory disorders, and hypotension were significantly (P <.0001) linked to PU development. First-day total SOFA score and its cardiovascular and respiratory subcategory scores were the most important predictors of PUs. CONCLUSION The total SOFA score provides an additional tool to assess PU risk in ICUs and should be used together with the Braden or the mJ/C Scale.