Effectiveness and safety of electrical stimulation for treating pressure ulcers: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Aim: This study aims to synthesize qualitative evidence on the effectiveness and safety of electrical stimulation for treating pressure ulcers.

Background: Electrical stimulation is often used clinically to treat pressure ulcers, but its effectiveness and safety and some potential problems are not clear.

Design: This is a qualitative systematic review.

Data sources: The data sources are four English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and Web of Science) and four Chinese databases (CNKI, SinoMed, VIP and WANFANG).

Methods: Two reviewers independently examined the records according to the eligibility criteria and extracted the data of each included study. We used the Review Manager 5.3 software to perform data analysis.

Results: Seventeen randomized controlled trials including 740 patients were included in this study. Meta-analysis of eight randomized controlled trials demonstrated that electrical stimulation significantly reduced the ulcer surface in contrast with standard wound care alone or pulsed sham electrical stimulation. Nine studies showed that electrical stimulation increased the risk of pressure ulcers being completely healed than the controlled group. Three studies reported that adverse reactions were rare.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that electrical stimulation was a relatively effective and safe adjunctive therapy for pressure ulcers treatment.

Keywords: electrical stimulation; meta-analysis; pressure ulcer; systematic review; wound care.