Background: In China, large sample research directed at the epidemiology of burns is still scarce. Given the leading position of Chinese military hospitals in domestic clinical practice pertaining to burns, a look into their cases would help shed light on the incidence and hospital care of burns in China today.
Methods: Data were collected from information systems of all the Chinese military hospitals, for the years 2001-2007 inclusive. Retrospective analyses on the epidemiology characteristics of burns from those in patients admitted to all the Chinese military hospitals within this period were conducted.
Results: A total of 172,256 cases were studied, with a total number of 1384 fatalities, and the median length of hospital stay (LOS) 11.00 days (interquartile range 6.00-19.00 days). Rate of burn incidence remained high in May, June, July and August. Children of preschool aged and adults in the labor force were at the highest risk of injury. Scalds constituted the majority of injuries (80.5%). Multiple body site burns are the most commonly seen category (31.98%) in terms of injured body region distribution. In fire-related burns, major burns (TBSA>30%) represented a significant proportion. Males with TBSA>30%, fire-related burns resulted in the greatest number of fatalities. Gender, age, site of injury, burn size and outcome are all correlated with the length of hospitalization.
Conclusion: Although this paper cannot provide information on population estimates of burns due to the absence of data on burns attending civilian hospitals, it finds that the epidemiology of burns in China shows distinct characteristics compared with previous studies of other country and regions, including that of other developing or low and middle-income countries (LMICs), irrespective of China's inclusion in that group.
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