Epidemiological trends of severe burns, 2009-2019: A study in the service of burns in Albania

Statistical and epidemiological data taken throughout decades show trends of the pathology of burns and its treatment. The aim of this study is to analyze the summarized epidemiological and clinical data of severe burn patients during the period 2009-2019 in order to acquire an accurate and recent picture of this pathology. This can create a basis for improving community health outcomes.

The study retrospectively analyzes the data of severe burn patients admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Service of Burns and Plastic Surgery of the University Hospital Center in Tirana, Albania, from 2009 to 2019. SPSS 23 software is used for the conduction of the Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. Statistical significance is defined as p<0.05.

Incidence rate of burn admissions which need ICU treatment in our data was 5.2 patients/100,000population/year. The mean age of our population was 24.9±25.5 years. The most frequent causes of burns in all patients were scalds (49.6%) followed by flame (39.5%), electrical (5.1%), chemical (5%) and with unknown cause (0.7%). Death rate from fire and burns for the period 2009-2019 was 0.3 patients per 100,000population/year. Overall mortality was 6.8%. The ABSI, Baux and R Baux scoring system remain accurate and valuable tools in the prediction of burn patient mortality. A probability of death chart for our service has been developed based on age and BSA (%) burned which needs to validate in the future.

Etiology of burns have changed toward an increase in proportion of flame burns especially in adults and elderly population. Survival following severe burns has improved over the past 11 years even in patients with three risk factors (age ≥60, BSA (%) burned ≥40% and presence of inhalation burn). LA 50 for all patients was 80%. LOS/BSA (%) ratio is a more valuable indicator than LOS alone. Improvement in the treatment of severe burns is a combination of preventive health care, appropriate treatment protocols and improvements in equipment and infrastructure.