Hospitals face a new epidemic: Bedsores

The number of hospital patients with bedsores has risen dramatically over a 14-year period, leading to longer, more expensive hospital stays, according to a new report by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Some 503,300 patients admitted to U.S. hospitals in 2006 suffered from a bedsore that developed either before or during their stay. That figure was 281,300 in 1993, representing an increase of 78.9%, the report found.