Background and purpose: Pressure ulcer is known as the third most costly disorder following cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Until now no exact estimate has been reported on the prevalence of bedsores in Iran. The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of bedsores in Iran using meta-analysis.

Materials and methods: An electronic search was conducted in some databases such as Pub med, Scopus, ISI, Google Scholar, Sid, Medlib, Iran medex, and Magiran and articles published/presented in 1998 to 2014 were selected. The search keywords included pressure ulcer, bedsore, and Iran. The data was analyzed using Meta-Analysis (Random Effects Model). The heterogeneity of the studies was investigated using the  index. Data was analyzed using STATA Ver.11.

Results: According to 14 studies (sample size= 5973 people), the prevalence of bedsores in Iran was found to be 19% (Confidence interval 95%: 13 to 25). The prevalence of first, second and third degree bedsores was 38%, 41%, and 9%, respectively. The most common site of bedsore was sacrum (54%) and the prevalence of bedsores among brain disease, motor impairment and coma patients was 25%, 19% and 46%, respectively.

Conclusion: High prevalence of grade 1 and 2 bedsores were detected in this review, so special protocols are needed to decrease the prevalence of bedsore.