SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Med.
Sec. Intensive Care Medicine and Anesthesiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1644290
This article is part of the Research TopicSurgical Innovations in the Management of Chronic WoundsView all articles
Efficacy of Silicone Foam Dressings in Preventing Pressure Injuries in the Sacral and Heel Areas of Patients: A Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
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Background: Pressure injury prevention is clinically critical for optimizing patient outcomes. This meta-analysis systematically evaluates the efficacy of silicone foam dressings in preventing pressure injuries specifically in the sacral and heel regions. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, Embase, ClinicalTrials.gov, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, and Weipu Databases, spanning from database inception to May 10, 2025. Eligible studies were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating silicone foam dressings for pressure injury prevention. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.4 software. Results: Ten RCTs involving 4,817 patients were included, with 2,670 patients in the silicone foam dressing intervention group. Meta-analysis results showed that silicone foam dressings significantly reduced the incidence of Stage I pressure injuries in the sacral region (relative risk [RR] = 0.18, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.09–0.33, P < 0.001) and heel region (RR = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.14–0.66, P = 0.003). Additionally, these dressings decreased the incidence of Stage II and more severe pressure injuries in the sacral region (RR = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.31–0.58, P < 0.001) and heel region (RR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.27–0.99, P = 0.05). Conclusion: Silicone foam dressings exhibit significant efficacy in reducing pressure injury incidence in the sacral and heel regions, supporting their clinical recommendation. However, further research is required to explore their cost-effectiveness and long-term outcomes to strengthen evidence for broader implementation.
Keywords: Silicone foam dressings, pressure injuries, Skin, care, Nursing, clinical
Received: 22 Jun 2025; Accepted: 29 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fu, Wu and Yu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Biao Yu, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
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