Self-reported quality of life after electrical and thermal injury

Electrical injury patients (EI) often require more procedures and longer hospital stays than their thermal injury counterparts. We hypothesized that postinjury quality of life might be better in thermal injury patients (TIs) than in EI. Each EI recorded in our institution's TRACS trade mark /ABA registry between 1995 and 2000 was matched with a TI for age and TBSA involvement. We compared SF-36 scores of EI and TIs to evaluate quality of life. Age and TBSA injury were similar between groups. SF-36 results demonstrated no significant differences in self-reported quality of life indices. Return to full-time employment did not differ significantly between groups. EI and TIs do not differ significantly in quality of life after their burn injuries. Self-evaluated function for EI and TIs is comparable. Quality of life in both EI and TIs are above population means on many dimensions.