Wound care: epidemiology and clinical impact at the national level in Panama during 2022

Abstract

Introduction: wound clinics (WC) manage complex wounds with specialized technology. The Caja de Seguro Social (CSS) of Panama has 33 WC nationwide that care for more than five thousand patients.

Objective: to characterize the population that attends to the WC of the CSS.

Methods: descriptive, retrospective study of the information in the electronic record (SIS) of patients treated from January to June of 2022, in the 12 WC distributed throughout the country that use this system. The universe was 5,275 patients with a total of 25,225 consultations.

Results: patients from all parts of the country were treated at the WC. The highest proportion was in the 50-69 years age range. The most frequent diagnoses were open wounds (20 %), chronic wounds (20 %), venous ulcer (14 %), and diabetic foot ulcer (14 %). In 188 cases, at least 1 hospitalization was registered being the complications of the underlying disease, such as chronic kidney disease (40.4 %), the main cause of admission. However, 15 % required hospitalization for diabetic foot, 8 % for cellulitis, and 6 % for foot ulcer.

Conclusion: Acute and chronic wounds are an important health problem in Panama. The most frequent wounds treated at the CSS are open wounds, chronic wounds, followed by venous ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers.