Quality of life in paediatric burn patients with non-severe burns

Amira Allahham; Matthew N Cooper; Mark W Fear; Lisa Martin; Fiona M Wood

doi:10.1016/j.burns.2022.03.012

Quality of life in paediatric burn patients with non-severe burns

Burns. 2023 Feb;49(1):220-232. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2022.03.012. Epub 2022 Mar 23.

Authors

Amira Allahham¹, Matthew N Cooper², Mark W Fear³, Lisa Martin⁴, Fiona M Wood⁵

Affiliations

¹ University of Western Australia, Burn Injury Research Unit, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
² Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, 15 Hospital Ave, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia.
³ University of Western Australia, Burn Injury Research Unit, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Fiona Wood Foundation, 11 Robin Warren Dr, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia.
⁴ University of Western Australia, Burn Injury Research Unit, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Fiona Wood Foundation, 11 Robin Warren Dr, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia. Electronic address: Lisa.Martin3@health.wa.gov.au.
⁵ University of Western Australia, Burn Injury Research Unit, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia; Fiona Wood Foundation, 11 Robin Warren Dr, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia; Burn Service of Western Australia, Fiona Stanley Hospital, MNH (B) Main Hospital, Level 4, Burns Unit, 102-118 Murdoch Drive, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia; Burns Unit, Perth Children's Hospital, 15 Hospital Ave, Nedlands, WA 6009 Australia. Electronic address: Fiona.wood@health.wa.gov.au.

PMID: 35410696
DOI: 10.1016/j.burns.2022.03.012

Abstract

Background: Burns are common worldwide, and the vast majority are non-severe burns of less than 20% of the total body surface area (TBSA). In Australia, paediatric burns account for a third of all burn admissions, thus understanding the quality-of-life outcomes after a non-severe burn in children is important.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study describes a paediatric cohort from Western Australia with non-severe burns occurring between 2018 and 2020 and characterises the child's quality-of-life outcomes which is measured using the Paediatric quality of life survey (PedsQL). The PedsQL included a parent-report and child-report assessment, each with a physical function domain and a psychosocial function domain which comprised of an emotional, a social and a school category.

Results: Data collected from 249 patients; 50.6% were male, 45.6% were toddlers. The most common cause was scald (48.19%), the majority had burns smaller than 5% TBSA (91.97%), and most included visible areas such as head, neck or hands (77.51%). The parent-report PedsQL scores were significantly different for both physical and psychosocial domains between the different age groups (p = 0.002, p = 0.001, respectively) and for burn cause (p = 0.004, p = 0.005, respectively). For child-reported scores we found evidence of an effect of burn cause across both domains that did not reach a statistical significance (p = 0.076, p = 0.078, respectively). The psychosocial functions in both the parent-report and the self-report were significantly different for the socioeconomic status groups (p = 0.015, p = 0.032, respectively). Quality of life scores were critically low in 16.46% of paediatric burn patients at three months after burn.

Conclusion: Parent-reported and child-reported psychosocial function was significantly poorer in higher socioeconomic groups, for older children and for those with flame burns. About 16% of patients had scores below the critical cut off. These data provide insight into the quality-of-life outcomes of paediatric patients with non-severe burns, allowing future studies to investigate burn prevention strategies and services to help paediatric burn patients in their recovery.

Keywords: Burn injuries; Paediatrics; PedsQL; Quality of life.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Australia
Burns* / psychology
Child
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Male
Quality of Life* / psychology
Retrospective Studies