The number of hospital patients with bedsores has risen dramatically over a 14-year period, leading to longer, more expensive hospital stays, according to a new government report. Some 503,300 patients admitted to U.S. hospitals in 2006 suffered from a bedsore that developed either before or during their stay. That figure was 281,300 in 1993, representing an increase of 78.9 percent, the report by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found. By contrast, overall hospital admissions increased by just 15 percent between 1993 and 2006. Most of the inpatients who had bedsores were ages 65 and older, and the cost of their care was borne largely by government health plans, primarily Medicare, according to the report. Although the report did not explain why bedsores had become so much more frequent, an official with the American Hospital Association speculated that the increase may be due to rising numbers of very frail, elderly patients arriving in hospitals.
Please click on the link below to read the complete New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/health/08bedsores.html?_r=1
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