Burns in Turkish children and adolescents: nine years of experience

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe information about burns that occur in children and adolescents in Turkey.

Patients and methods: The subjects were 362 patients whom were younger than 18 years who were treated at 3 burn centers in 2 different regions of Turkey between 1997 and 2005. The data collected for each case were age, gender, place of residence, cause and extent of burn, body sites affected, environment in which the injury occurred, interval from injury to arrival at a burn center, hospitalization status (inpatient versus outpatient), surgical treatment, and mortality.

Results: The 362 patients comprised 35.5% of all 1021 burn victims admitted during the study period. There were 183 boys and 179 girls (ratio 1:0.98) and the mean total body surface area burned was 17.7+/-16.5%. The highest proportion of patients were in the 1-6 years age group. Non-bath (not immersed) hot water scalding (216 cases, 59.7%) was the leading burn cause. The most common environment in which burn injury occurred was the home. The trunk was the body site most frequently affected (62.7%). 241 (66.6%) subjects lived in urban environments and 121 (33.4%) lived in rural areas. 171 patients (47.2%) were taken directly to the burn units, whereas the others (52.8%) were referred from other medical centers. 124 (34.3%) subjects were treated as outpatients and 238 (65.7%) were hospitalized. The overall mortality rate was 8.6% (31 deaths). Of the 238 inpatients, 92 (38.7%) were treated with daily dressings only, 128 (53.8%) required debridement, and 75 (31.5%) needed both debridement and grafting.

Conclusion: Every country needs a nationwide public education system that is aimed at preventing burns and ensuring that burn victims receive proper first aid and age-appropriate, specialized burn care.