科研之友
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摘要
background: leg ulcers are characterized as tissue loss in the lower extremities, generally caused by vascular dysfunction. objectives: verify the clinical and epidemiological profiles of the population sample with leg ulcers treated at the health centers of juiz de fora (brazil). material and methods: 124 leg-wound patients were evaluated between january 1999 and august 2001 and submitted to a clinical protocol. results: the mean age was 64 years, with females in the majority (65.3%). the mean family composition was 3.7 persons, and family income was around us$200.00 (86.8%). venous insufficiency (90.3%), systemic arterial hypertension (54%), obesity (20.2%) and diabetes mellitus (16.1%) were the most frequent events associated with the ulcers. an association of venous insufficiency and arterial hypertension was frequent in 43.7% of the sample, and significant (p%26lt;0.01) to predisposition to the ulcers. these were classified as venous (79%), hypertensive (15.4%), mixed and other (5.6%). the ulcers were generally localized in the distal third of legs (90%) and considered large (5 cm) in about 90% of the sample, with means of 8.7 cm and 9.6 cm to vertical and horizontal axes, respectively. the ulcers were accompanied mainly by hyperpigmentation (92.7%), lipodermatosclerosis (68.5%) and varicose veins (66.9%), with a mean duration of 94.2 months and 50% of them recurrent. conclusions: the data suggested that leg ulcer is an important chronic disease in the elderly and poor population of juiz de fora and region.
