BACKGROUND: Preoperative symptoms like occipital pressure ulcers and alopecia areata (AA) significantly lowered patient quality of life. Therefore, preoperative nursing was in need of investigation. This study aimed to compare effects of an alternating inflatable head pad and a gel pad on occurrence of postoperative pressure ulcers and AA in patients undergoing open heart surgery.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a prospective study. We allocated randomly 120 patients undergoing surgery (3–7 h) in the Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital affiliated to Qingdao University, China from January to October 2015 to the control (gel head pad) or the experimental (alternating inflatable head pad) group (n=60 per group). The incidence and severity of occipital pressure ulcer were graded by the classification system of the European Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (EPUAP). The degree of occipital alopecia was measured by hair pull test. This study used the t test and chi-square analysis. All statistics were analyzed by SPSS 21.0.

RESULTS: Compared with the control group, there was a significantly lower incidence and severity of occipital pressure ulcer and alopecia in the experimental group (9 cases/60 cases vs. 1 case/60 cases, P<0.01). Moreover, multivariate analysis showed the risk of developing occipital pressure ulcer after surgery was also obviously lower in the experimental group (OR 1.449–120.798; P<0.005). Hair pull test revealed that fewer patients in the experimental group had a hair loss over 10%.

CONCLUSIONS: The alternating inflatable head pad was effective in reducing the incidence and severity of occipital pressure ulcer and alopecia associated with surgery, which benefited the postoperative nursing and improved patient quality of life.

Keywords: alopecia areata, Pressure Ulcer, Randomized controlled trial