Black Nursing Home Residents have more Pressure Sores - JAMA

Nursing Home Neglect:
In a study published this month in the prestigeous Journal of American Medicine:
"... Nursing Home pressure ulcer rates in 2.1 million white and 346 808 black residents of 12 473 certified nursing homes in the United States that used the nursing home resident assessment; Nursing homes were categorized according to their proportions of black residents.

The study essentially measured the odds of pressure ulcers in stages 2 through 4 for black and white residents receiving care in different nursing home facilities.

Results ....... black residents of nursing homes showed persistently higher pressure ulcer rates than white residents.

In 2003, the pressure ulcer rate was 16.8% for black nursing home residents compared with 11.4% for white residents; in 2008, the rate was 14.6% compared with 9.6% , respectively. In nursing homes with the highest percentages of black residents (≥35%), both black residents unadjusted rate of 15.5%  in 2008; and white residents unadjusted rate of 12.1% had higher rates of pressure ulcers than nursing homes serving primarily white residents, in which white residents had an unadjusted rate of 8.8%.

Conclusions From 2003 through 2008, the prevalence of pressure ulcers among high-risk nursing home residents was higher among black residents than among white residents. This disparity was in part related to the site of nursing home care."

Association of Race and Sites of Care With Pressure Ulcers in High-Risk Nursing Home Residents, July 13, 2011, Li et al. 306 (2): 179 — JAMA