Table 1.

Prevalence studies on leg ulcers including observations on pain and its intensity (PubMed, Cinahl and EMBASE, search concluded by May 2006)

Author	Wounds types	Investigations	Methods	Participants	Main outcomes
Ebbeskog et al., 1996 (38)	Leg and foot	Study of demographics of leg ulcer patients in Sweden	Survey, questionnaire	Physicians and nurses completed questionnaires on 294 patients	Leg and foot ulcer prevalence of 0·12%; 92% patients >65 years; 42% venous ulcers (highest prevalence); pain reported by patients: 47% venous; 80% arterial ulcer; 94% mixed ulcer; 48% diabetic ulcer; 51% other ulcer; combined all day and dressing change pain
Noonan and Burge 1998 (9)	Venous leg ulcer	Measurement of pain	Nurses interviewing patients; ulcer measurements, pain assessment with Visual Analogue Scale and Visual Rating Scale	38 venous; 10 arterial ulcer patients	Temporary pain (dressing change): venous 87%; arterial 100%; mixed 86%. Persistent pain: venous 68%; arterial 100%; mixed 71%. 57% patients felt anger about the pain; standing exacerbated pain for all patients; pain disturbed sleep for most patients
Hofman et al., 1997 (8)	Venous leg ulcers	Assessment of prevalence, and pain	Prospective study, pain only analysed in venous group as other wound aetiologies were too small in sample size	140 patients	64% of venous patients reported 4/5 out of 5 pain; 38% had continuous pain; 64% reported sleep disturbance; 26% had atrophy blanche; periulcer pain was associated with maceration; 61% had pain in ulcer; 43% had pain around the ulcer; 46% had pain elsewhere; 30 out of 37 patients prescribed morphine still had pain of 4 to 5 out of 5
Lindholm et al., 1999 (39)	Chronic wounds and demographics	Study of demographics of leg ulcer patients in Sweden	Survey; structured questionnaire	Physicians and nurses completed questionnaires regarding 694 patients	• Prevalence: leg ulcers (0·14%); pressure ulcers (0·06%) and other wounds (0·04%); pain :48% leg ulcer patients; 46% foot ulcer patients; 37% pressure ulcer patients; 82% arterial patients; 39% venous disease; 24% of type I persons with diabetes; 30% of type II persons with diabetes; 87% of the older adult pressure ulcer patients (80–89 years)
Hollinworth and Colllier, 2000 (40)	Chronic leg ulcers	Survey	Questionnaire survey among nurses	373 nurses returned questionnaires	• Practitioners main consideration: 47% prevention of trauma to the wound; 37% avoiding patient pain; other concerns 16%
Charles et al., 2002 (41)	Venous ulcers	Compression bandaging; hydrocolloid dressing evaluation	Clinical trial; 12‐week treatment	65 patients	71% of patients had ulcer‐associated pain; 2 weeks with compression bandaging reduced pain to half its entry level; no difference in pain with different dressings
Margolis et al., 2002 (42)	Venous leg ulcers	Database analysis	Analysis of general practice databases, UK	6% of the general practitioners in UK; >65 years; 50 000 eligible for analysis	1·69% >65 had venous leg ulcers at least one time per year. 1·2 new incidence rate per 100 person years; incidence increased with increasing age
Nemeth et al., 2003 (7)	Venous and mixed aetiology	Prevalence measurement	Nurse interviews, cross‐sectional design, three times 1 week, numeric rating scale	255 participants	48–55% pain prevalence in venous leg ulcers; pain in all wounds not related to hard‐to‐heal wounds; individuals with pain statistically significant: ↑ osteoarthritis, ↑ foot ulcers, ↓ time of attendance at a leg ulcer service, ↓ SF‐12 mental health component score
Nemeth et al., 2004 (43)	Venous leg ulcers	Tracking pain related to compression bandaging	Nurses interviewing patients, pain measurement with numeric rating scale, and short form McGill	20 patients with venous disease	85% reported pain at admission; 81% still felt pain after 5 weeks of compression bandaging, but of less severity
Goncalves et al., 2004 (44)	Chronic leg ulcers	Describe pain characteristics	Nurse interviews, McGill pain descriptors	90 patients; mainly of venous origin (87%)	100% of venous leg ulcer patients had pain; pain descriptors: 83% throb‐bing; 78% drilling; 72% burning; 70% stabbing; evaluative descriptors: 66% nagging; 60% tiring; 50% troublesome