A prospective study on the wound healing and quality of life outcomes of patients with venous leg ulcers in Singapore-Interim analysis at 6 month follow up

Abstract

Venous leg ulceration results in significant morbidity. However, the majority of studies conducted are on Western populations. This study aims to evaluate the wound healing and quality of life for patients with venous leg ulcers (VLUs) in a Southeast Asian population. This is a multi-centre prospective cohort study from Nov 2019 to Nov 2021. All patients were started on 2- or 4-layer compression bandage and were reviewed weekly or fortnightly. Our outcomes were wound healing, factors predictive of wound healing and the EuroQol 5-dimensional 5-level (EQ-5D-5L) health states. Within our cohort, there were 255 patients with VLU. Mean age was 65.2 ± 11.6 years. Incidence of diabetes mellitus was 42.0%. Median duration of ulcer at baseline was 0.30 years (interquartile range 0.136-0.834). Overall, the median time to wound healing was 4.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.77-5.43). The incidence of complete wound healing at 3- and 6-month was 47.0% and 60.9%, respectively. The duration of the wound at baseline was independently associated with worse wound healing (Hazard ratio 0.94, 95% CI: 0.89-0.99, P = .014). Patients with healed VLU had a significantly higher incidence of perfect EQ-5D-5L health states at 6 months (57.8% vs 13.8%, P < .001). We intend to present longer term results in subsequent publications.

Keywords: chronic venous insufficiency; quality of life; venous leg ulcer; wound healing.