Objective To analyze the value of infrared measurement of sacrococcygeal skin temperature in predicting pressure injury (PI) of bedridden patients.

Methods A total of 320 bedridden patients admitted to Nantong Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine were included in the study. The sacrococcygeal skin temperature was monitored by infrared sensor in all patients. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors of PI occurrence in bedridden patients; receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the value of correlated factors in predicting the occurrence of PI in bedridden patients.

Results Among 320 patients included, 3 were transferred to other hospitals during treatment, and 2 died within 48 hours of admission, all of them were shedding cases. Among the remaining 315 patients, 43 patients with PI were included in the PI group, and 272 patients with intact skin and no PI were included in the control group. The age of PI group was higher than that of control group, the albumin level, sacrococcygeal skin temperature and Braden score in the PI group were lower than those in control group (P < 0.001). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that elder age was an independent risk factor for PI in bedridden patients. Increased albumin, increased sacrococcygeal skin temperature and Braden score were protective factors for PI in bedridden patients. ROC curve showed that the diagnostic efficiency of the combination of all factors in predicting the onset of PI in bed patients was higher than that of age, albumin, Braden score and sacrococcygeal skin temperature alone. The optimal cut-off point of sacrococcygeal skin clothing temperature was 36.13℃, and the sensitivity was 93.0% and the specificity was 96.3%. The higher the stage of pressure ulcer was, the lower the skin temperature would be. The best cut-off point of sacrococcygeal temperature for predicting the occurrence of PI in bedridden patients at stage 1 was 36.33 ℃, with a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 60.3%. The optimal cut-off temperature of sacrococcygeal temperature was 35.92℃ when PI occurred in stage 2 and stage 3 bedridden patients, and the sensitivity and specificity were 96.9% and 91.2% respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of sacrococcygeal temperature in predicting PI occurrence in stage 2 and stage 3 were higher than those in predicting PI occurrence in stage 1.

Conclusion Infrared measurement of sacrococcygeal skin temperature at admission can effectively predict the risk of PI in bedridden patients, and has high diagnostic value, and the higher the stage of pressure ulcer is, the greater the predictive value will be. Monitoring at admission can help identify high-risk patients and prevent PI in advance.