Burn injury is a significant source of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population. Although 40,000 pediatric patients in the United States are admitted to the hospital with burn wounds annually, significant differences exist in the management and treatment of these patients, even among highly specialized burn centers. Some aspects of pediatric burn research, such as metabolic changes and nutritional support after burn injury, have been studied extensively; however, in many aspects of burn care, pediatric research lags behind the study of adult populations. This review compares and contrasts a wide array of physiologic and immune responses between children and adults after burn injury. Such a review elucidates where robust research has been conducted, where adult research is applicable to pediatric patients, and where additional pediatric burn research needs to be conducted.
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