The effect of drug abuse on clinical outcomes of adult burn patients admitted to a burn center in the north of Iran: A retrospective cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Burn trauma is a life-threatening incident that may be accompanied by several risk factors thatincrease morbidity and mortality. Drug abuse is one of the lifestyle dangers on the rise globally and can havean impact on the outcomes of burn injuries. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of drug abuse on the clinicaloutcomes of adult burn patients who were admitted to a burn center in the North of Iran.Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included adult burn patients who were referred to VelayatHospital, between March 1, 2021, and March 20, 2022. The hospital information system (HIS) was used toselect patients with a history of drug use and then were compared with burn victims who had never used drugsbefore. In both groups, demographic information, the cause of the burn, the comorbid diseases, total bodysurface area, length of stay, and outcomes were collected and recorded for both groups.Results: This study included 114 inpatients, 90 of whom (78.95%) were men. The mean age of the patients was43±15 years. The mean length of hospitalization in the drug-user group was significantly higher than in thenon-drug abuse group (p=0.004). The drug abuse group had significantly higher rates of comorbid diseases(p=0.021), inhalation injury (p<0.001), mortality (p=0.002), and pneumonia (p<0.001). However, there were nostatistically significant differences in the Infection and Sir’s rates (p=0.583) between the groups.Conclusion: Drug abuse is a risk factor in adult burn patients, which can affect the length of stay and burnrelated morbidities.

Keywords

• burns
• substance abuse
• drug abuse
• burn injury