Understanding skin infections in older adults

Skin infections and soft-tissue conditions are known to be common in older adults (Laube and Farrell, 2002), and the focus of this article is to look at the available research in order to obtain an overview of the guidance when considering if a patient has a skin infection.

Hahnel et al (2017) investigated the prevalence of skin diseases in older nursing home residents while also exploring the possible associations of these with demographic and medical characteristics. Their research was a descriptive multicentre prevalence study and was conducted in a random sample of 10 institutional long-term care homes in Berlin, Germany. A total of 223 residents were included as participants. Hahnel et al (2017) found that 60 dermatological diseases were diagnosed among their sample. The most frequently diagnosed skin disease was xerosis cutis (99.1%), followed by tinea unguium (62.3%) and seborrheic keratosis (56.5%). The study identified only few bivariate associations linking skin diseases and demographic and medical characteristics. Hahnel et al (2017) concluded that their results indicated that almost every individual living in residential care has at least one dermatological diagnosis. Dermatological findings from their research ranged from the highly prevalent xerosis and cutaneous infection to skin cancer. Hahnel et al (2017) explained that not all conditions required immediate dermatological treatment and could be managed by targeted skin care interventions, such as appropriate antibacterial dressings, good hygiene and teaching the patient about skin care and how to avoid infections or to identify possibilities of conditions developing. The researchers also stated that caregivers would need knowledge and diagnostic skills to ensure that the appropriate clinical decisions are made in these situations.