Accident proneness and impulsiveness in an Italian group of burn patients

There is controversy about the existence of a predisposition to burn incidents (accident proneness). Our objective was to examine, in a group of burn patients, the conditions or "unconscious" subjective predisposition, the presence of impulsiveness that may have contributed to bringing about the "burn" event, and to assess the presence of psychiatric diagnoses and specific characteristics of temperament. 25 consecutive burn patients were interviewed by using specific psychometric tests. The sample was divided into two groups: "control" group (N=10), composed of subjects who had accidentally been involved in the incident and "case" group (N=15) composed of subjects who had very likely and more or less "knowingly" put themselves at risk of injury. We observed a marked statistically significant difference with case group subjects appearing to be more impulsive than the ones in control group. Higher levels of impulsiveness may predispose case group patients to a greater risk of burn. Our survey also seems to reveal a relationship between impulsiveness and the proneness of some subjects to burns.