Effect of Unna's boot on venous ulcer healing: a systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P 2024-01, Vol.58, p.e20230397
• Main Authors: Cordova, Fernanda Peixoto, Furhmann, Ana Claudia, do Carmo, Andreia Cristina Feitosa, Vales, Eduardo Nunes, Terra, Diego Henrique, da Silva, Bárbara Uuritz, Machado, Diani de Oliveira, Lucena, Amália de Fátima, Paskulin, Lisiane Manganelli Girardi
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; por
• Subjects: Compression Bandages; Humans; NURSING; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Review; Varicose Ulcer - therapy; Wound Healing
• ISSN: 0080-6234; 1980-220X; 1980-220X
• DOI: 10.1590/1980-220X-REEUSP-2023-0397en

To analyze the effect of Unna's Boot on the healing of venous ulcers compared to other therapies. Systematic Review carried out in the databases Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences, and grey literature. Population - adult patients with venous ulcers; Intervention- Unna's Boot (UB); Control - other compression therapies (CT); Outcome- healing; Designs- randomized clinical trial, cohort study, and case control, published from 2001 to 2024. The effect of the intervention, risk of bias, and quality of evidence were evaluated. Registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021290077). A total of 39 studies were included, with 5.151 patients. The majority (71.8%) were randomized controlled trials (RCT). UB was used as intervention/control in eight studies. When comparing CTs, only 1 study with UB showed a superior effect (p < .001) in healing, compared with high compression elastic bandage. In the quality of evidence analysis, 27 studies were assessed as having a high risk of bias. No superiority of UB was found in the healing of venous ulcers when compared to other CTs.