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Research

Randomised, controlled trial of alternating pressure mattresses compared with alternating pressure overlays for the prevention of pressure ulcers: PRESSURE (pressure relieving support surfaces) trial

BMJ 2006; 332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38849.478299.7C (Published 15 June 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;332:1413

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PRESSURE trial - further information

The PRESSURE (pressure relieving support surfaces) trial was funded
by the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme, part of the National
Institute for Health Research. It is published in full in its monograph
series, Volume 10.22. To view or download the full report visit
http://www.hta.ac.uk/project.asp?PjtId=1133

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

29 June 2006
Tom Walley
Programme Director, HTA programme
University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX

Preventing pressure sores in ICU

To the Editors,

Nixon et al reported the results of a multicentre, randomised,
controlled trial of two different methods for preventing pressure sores in
a very large population of patients aged at least 55 years1. Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) patients had been excluded from this trial ; however, the
incidence of pressure ulcers is very high in those patients2

Jean-François Cadue, Stéphane Karolewicz, Catherine Tardy, René
Robert and Olivier Pourrat

Intensive Care and Internal Medicine Unit, Faculty of Medicine of
Poitiers, Hôpital Jean -Bernard, Poitiers, F

References
1 Nixon J, Cranny G, Iglesias C, Nelson EA, Hawkins K, Phillips A et al.
Randomised, controlled trial of alternating pressure mattresses compared
with alternating pressure overlays for the prevention of pressure ulcers:
PRESSURE (pressure relieving support surfaces) trial. BMJ 2006;332:1413-7.

2 Keller BP, Wille J, van Ramshorst B, van der Werken C. Pressure ulcers
in intensive care patients : a review of risk and prevention. Intensive
Care Med 2002;28:1379-1388.

3 Weststrate JT, Hop WC, Aalbers AJ, Vreeling AW, Bruining HA. The
clinical relevance of the Waterlow pressure sore risk scale in the ICU.
Intensive Care Med 1998;24:815-20.

4 Cullum N, Mc Innes E, Bell-Syer SE, Legood R. Support surfaces for
pressure ulcer prevention. Cochrane Database Syst Rev;2004;CD001735.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

24 June 2006
Olivier Pourrat
Professor of Interrnal Medicine
Jean-François Cadue, Stéphane Karolewicz, Catherine Tardy, René Robert, and Olivier Pourrat
University of Poitiers, Hôpital Jean Bernard, 3 rue dela Milètrie, BP 577, 86021 POITIERS,France
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