Prevalência de feridas em Moçambique

Abstract

Wounds are becoming a health problem in underdeveloped countries like Mozambique. Although some research has been done over the years, epidemiological studies of wounds in Africa remain to be done. The theme of the prevalence of wounds in African countries is extremely scarce. This study aimed to contribute to the overall diagnosis of the situation of wounds in a community in Mozambique, based on characterizing the occurrence of wounds and estimate its prevalence. The epidemiological study was conducted in April 2011, to the patients of a hospital in Chingussura that were referred for the treatment of wounds. The data collection was performed by the researcher to each patient only during the first consultation by completing the survey regarding the Epidemiological Study of wounds, having been characterized 107 individuals. The prevalence of wounds in the Chingussura area was 4,3%; considered in the data analysis from this study were the distribution of gender; population by age group; distribution of the profession; classification, localization and lateralization of wounds; how long it has existed; classification by type of tissue; frequency of dressing changes and level of exudate; classification by signs of infection present and diagnosis of infection in the deep compartment; classification by duration of treatment; classification by surrounding skin; and, lastly, dressing material. The results presented in this study noted that for a sample of 107 patients, 53,3% are male, with ages between 1 and 77, verifying that 43,3% were students who resorted to the hospital for treatment. Etiologically the highest frequency where the traumatic wounds with a primary location on the foot, relating to the lateralization of the various types of wounds, the majority was on the right side of the body. In relation to specific characteristics in the analysis of each wound, these have mostly fibrinous tissue with abundant exudate, having as main signs of infection pain and odour; however, about 58,9% of cases presented infection in the deep compartment. Considering the scarcity of dressing material with therapeutic action, the dressing was performed in over 89,7% of cases with chlorine at 0,025%, related to the time spent in the wound treatment, the nurses didn’t spent more than 2 minutes per treatment, and the frequency of dressing changes being three times a week. Original study in this region, and a base of knowledge of this problem that affects an increasing number of people.

Date of Award	Sept 2012
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Costa Amado (Supervisor) & Paulo Alves (Co-Supervisor)