Demographics of the homeless in an urban burn unit

Abstract

There are few articles about the homeless in burn literature. We sought to determine the demographic characteristics of the homeless citizens admitted to an urban burn center. This was a retrospective review from March 1999 to May 2004. Statistical analysis included chi2 and one-way analysis of variance. There were 1615 burn admissions, and 73 (4.5%) of these patients were homeless. Although the %TBSA affected was similar for the homeless and domiciled patients, the mean (+/-SD) age of the homeless was 44 +/- 10 years and their length of stay was 15 +/- 15 days, compared with 31 +/- 22 years and 9 +/- 13 days, respectively, for the domiciled. Twenty-one (29%) of the 73 homeless were admitted for frostbite, vs 21 (1.4%) of the 1542 domiciled patients (P= .000). Because of the frostbite, the majority (53%) arrived in the winter, compared with 15% in each of the other three seasons (P= .000). The homeless had a higher frequency of acute and chronic ethanol and cocaine use than the domiciled population (21% vs 6%). There was no significant difference between the homeless and the domiciled population in %TBSA affected, nutritional values, and assault frequency. More than half of the homeless patient admissions to the burn unit resulted from assault or frostbite. The homeless were mainly African-Americans and Caucasians, with a higher frequency of ethanol and cocaine use than in the domiciled burn population. Lack of discharge options for the homeless prolonged the average length of stay, leading to increased costs, often borne by the burn unit.