Bathroom scald burns in Queensland Children

To evaluate the current characteristics of bathroom scald injuries in Queensland Children.

Data was collected from patients who presented with a bathroom scald injury to the Stuart Pegg Paediatric Burns Centre at the Royal Children's Hospital and Lady Cilento Children's Hospital, Brisbane from January 2013 to December 2014.

Bathroom scald burns represented 2.6% of total burns cases with an inpatient rate of 39%. The family home is the location of injury in 84% of cases and in 79% the patient was aged 2 years of age or younger. Total body surface area ranged from 0.5% to 20% with a median of 1.75% (IQR 0.63, 3.38%). In our study 8% of patients underwent grafting and 24% received follow up for scar management. Injuries occurred in rental properties in 47% of tempering valve survey respondents. The rate of installation of tempering valves was 23%.

Bathroom scald burns continue to be over-represented in inpatient data. Tempering valves were not consistently installed after injury, this intervention would require further legislation to be an effective prevention strategy.

This study provides important insights into paediatric bathroom scald injuries and will assist with the development of prevention strategies.