NH Residents with Pressure Sores

One in ten high-risk nursing home residents experience pressure sores (10 percent); no racial/ethnic group strayed more than 3 percentage points away from this figure. In 16 states, the lowest performing group by race/ethnicity were still under ten percent, the national average. In two states the rate of pressure sores was above 15 percent.

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7.1%

Best State Performance

11.8%

US Value

Compare State Data

†† Due to small sample size of one or more racial/ethnic groups, this indicator could not be calculated. An imputed value was used for scoring, but is not displayed or ranked.

Methodology

Percentage of high-risk nursing home residents impaired in bed mobility or transfer, comatose, or suffering malnutrition who have pressure sores (stage 2–4 or unstageable) on target assessment. The indicator measures prevalence among high-risk residents present in the facility as of the first Thursday of April 2021.

Data includes stage 2–4 and unstageable pressure ulcer conditions. Unstageable pressure sores may be open or closed wounds that are completely covered with eschar (hard, black, dead tissue) or a non-removable dressing or device, making them difficult to diagnosis.

These data were averaged at the state level following the LTSS State Scorecard approach to measuring equity.

Equity adjustment: Race/ethnicity is indicated in MDS by a 6 category multiple response variable with choices:

American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian
Black or African American
Hispanic or Latino
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
White

Residents were classified by race/ethnicity as follows:

Hispanic/Latino: “Hispanic or Latino” is selected
All Other Races/Ethnicities: exactly one race/ethnicity is selected (a resident is classified as “Asian” if and only if “Asian” is selected and no other races/ethnicity is selected)
Multiracial: “Hispanic or Latino” is not selected and two or more other races/ethnicities are selected

Data are presented for all residents and for each race/ethnicity group with sufficient sample size to report. Residents without any race/ethnicity category selected are included in all residents but not in any subgroup.

For the equity adjusted metric score, residents are divided into 2 groups: White, and an aggregate grouping of {American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Multiracial}. The lower performing group (higher percentage of residents with pressure sores) is scored and ranked as a performance metric.

In Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wyoming the sample size was not sufficient to score both groups. The metric value is therefore shown as N/A and the state is not ranked. The metric value for all nursing home residents is used for calculating dimension-level performance.

Analysis of 2021 MDS 3.0 state-level care data provided by the Changing Long-Term Care in America Project at Brown University in February-April 2023.

Brown University (2023). Changing Long Term Care in America Project at Brown University funded in part by the National Institute on Aging (1P01AG027296). Providence, RI: Brown University School of Public Health, http://ltcfocus.org/.