UF tests potential remedy for pressure ulcers in elderly

On Web sites and in health-food stores, the amino acid arginine is frequently touted as a muscle-building boost for weightlifters and even as a natural sexual stimulant.

While the evidence supporting such uses is far from conclusive, supplements of the protein building block could play a role in treating a potentially serious health condition among nursing home residents – pressure ulcers, more commonly known as bedsores.

With a new $94,000 grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Joyce K. Stechmiller, an associate professor and chair of the department of adult and elderly nursing, is conducting an exploratory experiment to determine whether arginine supplements affect the healing of such wounds.

The issue is of particular importance to the nursing profession, as nurses in the United States provide care to more than 1.9 million elderly patients in long-term care facilities, according the U.S. Department of Commerce. One-fourth of these residents suffer from pressure ulcers, which are painful and debilitating to patients, and also costly to treat. In long-term care facilities, treatment for bedsores costs more than a hundred dollars a day; in the hospital, the total bill can run into the thousands.

The human body normally produces and maintains arginine; however, it may not be produced fast enough to keep up with the body’s needs when it experiences stress, induced, for example, by injury, infection or malnutrition.

Elderly people are a particularly vulnerable group because they face an increased risk of infection, and their wounds may heal slowly because of the effects of aging. That’s why researchers are testing arginine to see if it can improve the body’s immune response and promote wound healing.

“It’s troublesome to see how many elderly people are confronted with this problem,” Stechmiller said.

For the study, researchers are dividing nursing home residents who are 65 or older and who have at least one bedsore into two groups. One group will receive arginine dietary supplements three times a day for four weeks. The other group will receive a standard protein powder supplement in cherry syrup. After 10 weeks, researchers will take a follow-up blood sample to see how arginine affected infection-fighting cells.