Epidemiology of Burns in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients of Fars Province between 2017 and 2018.

Objective: According to the reports of the World Health Organization approximately 300,000 deaths occur yearly worldwide due to burns or burn-associated injuries. This study aims to review the epidemiology of burns in pediatrics and adolescents in Fars province between 2017 and 2018.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that investigated all people ≤18 years old who suffered from burn injuries in Fars province between 2017 and 2018. We use data from the file of burn patients which was provided by pre-hospital emergency services of Fars province. This data comprises demographic information (age and gender), burn-related information (type, degree, and severity of burns), mode of transfer (outpatient surgery or transfer to hospital) and the outcome of the disease (death before arrival to the hospital or alive).

Results: The average age of the subjects of this study was 5.8±8.9. We also categorized the subjects into four age groups, 1-4, 5-8, 9-13 and 15-18 years. The number of boys who suffered from burn injuries is significantly more than the girls (p=0.011). Also, there is a remarkable correlation between burn with age (p<0.001) and burn with disease outcome (p=0.01). The Most common cause of burns in boys was nonchemical hot objects and liquids (28.5%). Likewise, the possibility of mortality in burn patients who faced an electric shock was 22.66%. ([95%CI=2.32-220.63], p<0.001 OR=22.66).

Conclusion: This study shows that pediatrics and adolescents ≤ 4 have the most burn injuries, and boys have twice as many burn events as girls. More importantly, the most common cause of burns in both genders was burning with non-chemical hot objects and liquids, in particular, in the age group of 1-4 years, in which event happens at home.