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Pressure (or decubitus) ulcers are a regular occurrence in critically ill patients in intensive care units. To prevent and treat pressure ulcers, patients are regularly placed in different positions in bed and segmented beds are used that can be moved in different positions. Yet the optimum position of a patient in bed is still controversial. Studies have further found that the type of mattress has a significant influence on the development of pressure ulcers.

Korean researchers Bae and Ko therefore investigated the effects of changes in bed position on different types of mattresses on the contact pressure between the patient’s body and the mattress. By means of novel’s pliance^® system, they tested 15 healthy subjects (differentiated into three groups: normal, overweight, and underweight). They set up five positions of three-stage segmental motorized beds and used four types of ulcer-preventing mattresses (latex, bubble, alternative, and air types) and an ordinary hospital mattress.

With regard to the subject’s position in bed, the head-foot at 30° degrees position in the segmental bed was found to be the best position to alleviate the development of pressure ulcers. The air mattress was found to be the best respective mattress. The study further showed that underweight patients are the group most vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Researchers Bae and Ko therefore stressed the importance of considering the characteristics of the patients (e.g. the body mass index), in addition to patients’ positioning in bed and the type of mattress, in research and development of ulcer-preventing mattresses.

Bae, T.S. and C.W. Ko (2014):
Biomechanical effect of changes in bed positions and different types of mattresses in preventing decubitus ulcer.
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 11 (1): 93-98