Introduction

Scholars and medics have defined pressure injury as areas of localized injury either to the underlying tissue or the skin, mainly over the prominence due to the sole effect of pressure or a combination of pressure and shear. The global prevalence of pressure injury is estimated at 12.8% of the total population, along with an incident rate of 5.4 patients per 10,000 people examined daily, out of which 8.5% of these cases are hospital-acquired pressure injuries (Li et al., 2020). In the United States (US), about 2.5 million victims of pressure ulcers are recorded annually (Bauer et al., 2016), coupled with mortality rates of 2 to 6 times as much as those registered from other diseases and approximately 60 000 deaths (Borojeny et al., 2020). Moreover, pressure ulcers cost between $ 9.1 to $ 11.6 billion yearly (Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality [AHRQ], n.d.; Borojeny et al., 2020). The most prevalent form of pressure ulcers is stage two, affecting primarily older people aged 65 and above.

Certain conditions spearhead the occurrence of pressure ulcers in aging individuals. Pressure ulcers emerge due to risk factors, including advanced age (65 years and above), immobility, mental disability, inadequate nutrition, and incontinence (Ebi et al., 2019). As per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pressure ulcers among elderly persons are among the most outstanding health and safety issues for nurses and hospitals in the US, as cited by Sharp et al. (2019). The US’s fast-growing segment of the old-age population is the reason for focusing this study on pressure ulcers among its aging population to determine possible ways of reducing the prevalence of this disease to save the country plenty of funds incurred in its medication.

Problem

Demographic and economic shifts cause the growth of the aging human population, notwithstanding the change in skin complexion. At present, about 11.5% of the global population are aged 60 years and above, and this percentage is anticipated to upsurge to 22% by 2050 (Hahnel et al., 2017). In the US, the life expectancy of the aging population has remarkably increased due to improved medical treatment and better living standards. In particular, the average life expectancy is between 70 and 82 years (Jaul et al., 2018). The increasing potential to live longer comes with the disease burden, and pressure injury is among the contributors to such burden.

As people age, many become frail, and it is the main reason for considering their safety. Aging pressure injury patients are linked to chronic diseases, malnutrition, dysplasia, and incontinence, which causes poor prognosis of pressure ulcers. If the condition is associated with septicaemia or infection, such contribute to more than 50% of deaths (Carryer et al., 2017). Its harmful effects include prolonged healing, pain, discomfort, recurrent hospitalizations and surgeries, and home care needs. Reasoning from a cost perspective, pressure injuries are part of the top five socioeconomic burdens in the US and can cost between $ 20,900-$ 151 700 per pressure ulcers patient (AHRQ, n.d.). Pressure ulcers among older adults remain a problematic nursing issue, particularly for those suffering from frailty and chronic diseases, making preventive measures awareness required.

Aging is a condition characterized by increased chances of visiting and spending in hospitals are high. Elderly persons become more vulnerable to chronic diseases, making them visit and spend in hospitals frequently (Jaul et al., 2018). Consequently, many older adults in the US reside in nursing homes, making them susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Exploring the prevalence of fundamental health issues among the aging human population is crucial to ensure continued quality in nursing (Cai et al., 2019). Studying such prevalence assists one to identify critical trends, required workforce capacity to deal with the issue, and workforce skills enhancement.

Search Strategies

The study involved a three-step search strategy to find unpublished and public articles on pressure ulcers. In the first step, the researcher conducted an initial search via the Medline Ovid database to identify keywords associated with the study topic. In so doing, the reviewer minimized the risk of executing a biased search, as recommended by Wung Buh et al. (2021). In the Second Stage, the investigator used the identified keywords to search for studies in scholarly databases. Lastly, reference databases such as Cite Fast, Google Scholar were used to obtain references in the required format style.

In this research, PubMed, Google Scholar, Embase, Web of Science, Google, and Scopus were searched to gather relevant articles. The search was tailored to systematic search protocol executed using search terms pressure i