Nutritional therapy in the treatment of pressure injuries: a systematic review

Abstract Objective: to review literature on the use of nutritional therapy in the treatment of pressure injuries. Methods: a systematic review of the PubMed, Lilacs and Scielo databases was performed, with studies in the English and Portuguese languages published in the last five years selected. Result: three articles that investigated the use of different doses of arginine, a mixture of amino acids and nutritional supplements enriched with arginine, zinc and antioxidants were analyzed. The studies found that there was a reduction in the area of wounds in the intervention groups, although the difference in size was not significant in all the articles. Conclusion: nutritional intervention should be considered an integral part of the treatment of pressure injuries. The use of certain nutrients may positively affect the healing process of such injuries. Due to the heterogeneity of the methodologies used, the small sample size and the range of intervention times and nutrients used, more scientifically rigorous studies are recommended to create an evidence based nutritional intervention model for the treatment of pressure injuries.