Background: Burns are a common type of injury in children worldwide, which cause a large number of casualties each year. This study aimed to explore the clinical epidemiological characteristics and assess the prognosis affecting factors of hospitalized children with burns using multimethods.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of pediatric burns in southwest China. Demographic characteristics and mechanism of burns were surveyed and clinical data, the length of hospital stay (LOS) and outcome were extracted from the medical records. The prognosis affecting factors of burns were analyzed by both logistic regression and path analysis.
Results: A total of 111 children with burns were surveyed (63.06% males). The median age was 2.08 years (interquartile range, IQR 1.25-3.75), and most patients (69.37%) were under 3 years old. Hot liquid was the major etiology (79.28%) and most burns occurred at home (83.78%). The total body surface area (TBSA) was mainly less than 10% (56.88%) with deep partial thickness (59.63%); however, 55.86% children did not receive any first-aid measures after burns. Path analysis showed that skin grafting surgery could reduce LOS, while TBSA greatly prolonged LOS. Multivariate analysis showed that age (hazard ratio, HR = 1.65) and burn depth (HR = 13.49) were risk factors for scarring. The TBSA (HR = 3.52) and burn depth (HR = 10.52) were risk influencing factors for limb mobility.
Conclusion: In southwest China children under 3 years old, scald burns are most common, and most burns occur at home. It seems that TBSA, skin grafting, age and burn depth are best predictors of the prognosis in hospitalized children with burns.
Keywords: Epidemiology; Length of hospital stay; Path analysis; Pediatric burns; Prognostic factors.