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Published on: February 23, 2024
Scald burn, a preventable injury: Analysis of 4306 patients from a major tertiary care center
Shamendra Anand Sahu1, Karoon Agrawal1, Pankaj Kumar Patel1
1Department of Burns, Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery, Safdarjung Hospital and VMMC, Ansari Nagar West, New Delhi 110029, India.
Insights
Scald burns disproportionately affect children, often occurring in domestic settings without proper first aid. Public awareness and education on safe practices and immediate first aid are crucial for reducing scald burn incidence and improving outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Burn Care
- Epidemiology of Injury
- Public Health
Background:
- Scald burns present unique epidemiological profiles and risk factors, predominantly affecting pediatric populations.
- Despite being preventable and often occurring domestically, scald burn incidence remains high.
- These injuries can lead to significant physical disabilities, educational disruption, and economic burdens.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the detailed epidemiology and severity of scald burns across all age groups.
- To identify key demographic and temporal patterns associated with scald injuries.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective analysis of burn patient records from a tertiary care center spanning January 2013 to December 2014.
- Segregation and analysis of data specifically for patients with scald injuries using Microsoft Excel.
Main Results:
- Scald injuries accounted for 42.3% of 10,175 burn cases, with 56.85% of scald patients under 15 years old.
- Preschool children were the primary victims (36.4%), often with larger total body surface area (% TBSA) involvement.
- Scald injuries showed seasonal variation (peaking in winter), and a significant proportion of patients (36.8%) received no first aid, with a median reporting time of 3.5 hours.
Conclusions:
- Scald burns affect all ages but are most prevalent in children, highlighting a critical public health concern.
- Inadequate first aid and delayed medical attention are common, potentially worsening outcomes.
- Enhanced public awareness campaigns on household safety and first aid for scalds are essential to mitigate the impact of these injuries.
Background:
Scalds have distinct epidemiological and predisposing risk factors amongst all types of burns. Though scald affects all age groups, the brunt falls on the minor age groups. It may result in major physical disabilities and significant loss of school years. Apart from the economic burden on family, major scald burn may compromise overall development of the affected children. Most of the scald injuries occur in domestic settings and are preventable. Despite improvement in living conditions, the incidence of scald burn has failed to decline. Our aim was to study the detailed epidemiology and severity of scald burn amongst all age groups.
Methods:
A retrospective study was carried out from the records of all burn patients who attended a tertiary burn care center from January 2013 and December 2014. Data of the patients with scald injury was segregated and analyzed using Microsoft excel spreadsheet.
Result:
10,175 burn patients attended the burn casualty during the study period, of which 42.3% had sustained scald. 56.85% of patients were under 15 years of age with preschool children (36.4%) being the prime victims of scald. The % TBSA involved is also relatively larger in children. Scald follows definite seasonal variation peaking in winters. 36.8% patients arrived to the hospital without any first aid. 74.2% of patients reported to casualty with in 24hours after sustaining scald injury. The median time interval between injury and reporting to casualty was 3hours 30minutes.
Conclusion:
This study concludes that the scald is injury of all age groups, though majority of them are children. The first aid is not given to large number of patients and late reporting is quite common. These are the factors which may affect the course of scald burn. Spreading public awareness regarding safe household practises and educating them for proper first aid management after scald may have significant impact on the burden of care and outcome.
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