Pattern of Burn Injuries and Outcome in Children
Keywords:
Burns, children, scalds, mortality, total body surface area (TBSA)Abstract
Objective: To identify the cause and factors associated with mortality in burn injuries among the children.
Study design: A hospital based cross sectional study
Patients & Method:. A total of 94 children admitted during September 2009 to March 2010 at a tertiary care hospital were included. The variables investigated include age, gender, type of burn, percentage of body surface area burnt, hospital stay and clinical outcome.
Results: Out of 94 children 48 (51.06%) were male and 46 (48.93%) were female. Mean age was 8.97 ± 4.64 years. Children above 6 years were more affected and flame or fire was the leading cause of burn injuries, whereas scald burns affected children less than 6 years of age. Over all mortality was 22.8% and more deaths were noticed in children above 6 year. Mean TBSA was 24.91 ± 24.15 and mean hospital stay was 6.95 ± 6.81 days. 90% mortality was observed in children with TBSA > 60%. A significant association was found between TBSA and mortality (p-value <0.000).There was also a significant association between age of the child and
causative agent (p - value<0.000).
Conclusion: Females with flame burn injuries were more affected in age group above 6 years, while children at pre-school age were affected by scalds. It indicates that burn injuries mainly occur in domestic setup and are therefore preventable. More vulnerable group includes children with TBSA between 30 and 60% and requires more intensive treatment to reduce the mortality
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