<< Online Journal TOP
- Original article -
Nutritional and Vitamin Status of Non-Healing Wounds in Patients Attending a Tertiary Hospital in India
Sudha Agrawal, Shyam Sundar Pandey, Vijay Kumar Shukla and Paramjeet Kaur
Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Non-healing wounds are a common cause of morbidity worldwide. The wounds are the result of inadequate repair in an optimum period and are due to the presence of predisposing factors. The abnormalities of certain biochemical factors are important in impeding wound healing. One hundred patients with non-healing wounds of more than six weeks duration were studied for nutritional and vitamin status and their correlation with healing time. The healing time was significantly prolonged in patients with serum protein concentrations below 6 gram/dl, but the healing time was not correlated with the concentrations of vitamin C or vitamin E. Anemia also did not alter the healing time. Adequate protein intake is the most important prerequisite for good wound healing.
key words: non-healing wounds; vitamin C; vitamin E; serum protein; anemia
Received January 21, 2002; Accepted for publication November 19, 2002
Reprint requests to: Dr. Sudha Agrawal, Assistant Professor, Department of Dermatology and Venereology, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Nepal.
J Dermatol 30 (2): 98-103, 2003
Japanese Dermatological Association
http://www.dermatol.or.jp
