A GHASTLY RISING RATE OF PREVENTABLE PEDIATRIC BURNS: WE NEED TO ACT

Abstract

Objective: To ascertain the increase in paediatric burn admissions in our tertiary care facility. Find various causes of this trend and assess the morbidity and mortality in paediatric population, and suggest remedies. Study Design: This is a “descriptive case series study” Place of Study: This Study was conducted during September 2017 to August 2019 at Department of Burns & Plastic surgery. Materials and Methods: Total number of acute burn admissions under 12 years were recorded. Subdivided this group into 0 to 2 years and 2 to 12 years. We assessed epidemiology, sex, cause of burn, mode of admission, location of incident, type of first aid given, mortality, and compared results during two equal halves of this period. We used SPSS 20 for data analysis. Results: 504 (49.85%) were pediatric acute burn admissions. Their age ranged from 25 days to 12 years (mean 5 ±1.2 years). 152 were infants/toddlers aged 0-2 years. 270 male and 234 females. 316 were direct admissions. There were 72.43% more pediatric burn admissions. 381 were scalds, 91 flame burns, 21 electric burns and 11 chemical burns. There was 11.94% improved survival among burn patients. Two temporal peaks, largest in summer from May to Jul and second in Dec to Feb. Conclusion: There is an increasing trend in acute pediatric burn admissions. Majority of victims did not receive proper first aid. We need to start a very aggressive campaign on print and electronic media for public education.

Keywords

• pediatric burns
• prevention
• first aid
• mortality
• severity of burns