National Journal of Community Medicine (Sep 2014)
Clinico Epidemiological Study on Burn Victims: What Is the Current Picture in A Tertiary Care Hospital of India?
Abstract
Background: Globally, burn injuries are one of the major health hazards, caused by a variety of agents such as heat, electricity, radiation, and corrosive substances. In a developing country like India, burn injuries continue to be a challenging problem due to poor medical facilities, lack of safety measures, absence of public awareness, dowry, poverty and illiteracy. The present study was conducted to study epidemiology, clinical presentation of burn victims. Methods: A descriptive, epidemiological study was done with a pre designed proforma for eight months among 58 cases with thermal injuries. The proforma was translated in local language and informed verbal consent was obtained from the respondent in favorable situation. The accompanying person’s consent was taken in other situation.All the information on various aspects of burn related epidemiology was gathered either from the patient or from the accompanying person depending on the severity of case. Results: Among 58 cases, 46 were females and 12 were males. Illiteracy was present in more than one third subjects. There was significant difference in the incidence for occurrence of burn among different gender,place of residence, education level, occupation, marital status, social class(P<.001). Accidental outnumbered suicidal etiology. No case of homicide was found. Marital disharmony was the reason in 6 cases. The average TBSA affected was 41.3%. As outcome concerned, 24 died and 8 referred to higher centre having specialized burn unit for better management. Conclusion: Individual, mass and parenteral, community based preventive health education is the urgent need to combat the situation.
