Background: Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) has become a common practice after surgery, but research has shown that the use of PCA is also a significant risk factor for pressure ulcers. However, no meta-analysis or conclusive review has investigated whether patients using PCA have a significantly higher prevalence of pressure ulcers.
Objective: This study explores the association between the use of postoperative PCA and the prevalence of pressure ulcers.
Materials and methods: PubMed, the Cochrane Controlled Register of Trials, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and Vip databases were searched to identify studies, published up until November 2016, concerning the association between PCA and pressure ulcer prevalence. A manual search of the references of relevant studies also was performed. Odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the strength of association between the use of PCA after surgery and pressure ulcer prevalence. The methodological quality of included case-control studies and cohort studies was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. The test of heterogeneity, subgroup analysis, meta-regression, Begg's funnel plot, and Egger's test also were used.
Results: Four cohort studies and 1 case-control study were included. In these 5 studies, 265 participants were identified. In pooled analysis, heterogeneity was 0 among the studies. In a fixed effects model, postoperative pressure ulcer was associated with PCA (pooled OR, 3.525; 95% CI, 1.655-7.509). Subgroup analysis of these 5 studies yielded an OR of 3.29 (95% CI, 1.47-7.40) for cesarean section, 5.10 (95% CI, 0.24-107.55) for general surgery, and 5.10 (95% CI, 0.24-107.55) for orthopedic surgery. There was no heterogeneity among the 5 studies. Additional meta-regression of year and incidence did not find significant outcomes.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis shows PCA may be associated with an increased risk of postoperative pressure ulcer, especially after caesarean section. More evidence-based studies on this research field are needed to draw a firmer conclusion.