Chronic Wound Management and Health-Related Quality of Life
Summary
Chronic wounds—ulcers that fail to heal in an expected timeframe—represent a major burden for patients and healthcare systems worldwide. Conditions such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure injuries arise from impaired vascular supply, neuropathy or sustained mechanical pressure, and carry a high risk of infection, amputation and prolonged disability. Management has evolved from simple dressings and debridement towards integrated approaches combining advanced biomaterials, cellular therapies and digital support tools. Alongside efforts to close the wound, attention has turned to health-related quality of life (HRQoL), recognising that pain, odour, mobility restrictions and psychosocial distress profoundly affect patients’ well-being. The routine incorporation of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has enabled clinicians to capture perceptions of pain, function and social participation, guiding more personalised interventions. Optimal care now demands a balance between evidence-based debridement, infection control and novel regenerative strategies, while continuously monitoring HRQoL to ensure that treatments deliver meaningful improvements in daily life.
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Chronic Wound Management and Health-Related Quality of Life publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in chronic wound management and health-related quality of life across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Chronic wound: a lesion of the skin or underlying tissue that does not progress through the normal stages of healing within three months.
Regenerative medicine: therapeutic approaches that restore structure and function of damaged tissues using biomaterials, cells or growth factors.
Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT): a method applying controlled suction to a wound to remove exudate and promote perfusion.
Scaffold: a three-dimensional biomaterial framework designed to support cell attachment and tissue development.
Hydrogel: a water-rich polymer network used as a moist dressing or as a delivery vehicle for therapeutic agents.
Patient-reported outcome measure (PROM): a structured questionnaire completed by patients to assess symptoms, function and quality of life.
Health-related quality of life (HRQoL): a multidimensional construct reflecting the impact of health status on physical, psychological and social well-being.
References
- Collagen-Based Scaffolds for Chronic Skin Wound Treatment. Gels (2024).
- Chronic Wound Management: From Gauze to Homologous Cellular Matrix. Biomedicines (2023).
- Danish and Dutch linguistic validation and cultural adaptation of the WOUND-Q, a PROM for chronic wounds. European Journal of Plastic Surgery (2019).
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