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Published on: February 23, 2024
The association between improved standard of living and paediatric burns
Zoran Barčot1, Rok Kralj1, Mario Kurtanjek1
1Department of Paediatric Surgery, Children's Hospital Zagreb, Klaićeva 16, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Insights
Paediatric burn injuries in Croatia significantly declined between 2011-2018. This decrease is linked to both a smaller child population and improved living standards, including better housing, education, and reduced poverty.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Epidemiology
- Pediatrics
Background:
- A significant decline in paediatric burn injuries was observed at the Children's Hospital Zagreb Referral Centre for Paediatric Trauma between 2011 and 2018.
- This trend prompted an investigation into potential contributing factors, including demographic shifts and socioeconomic changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the decline in paediatric burn injuries treated at a major Croatian children's hospital from 2011 to 2018.
- To explore the association between socioeconomic indicators and the incidence of paediatric burns.
Main Methods:
- An observational study analyzing patient treatment data from January 2011 to December 2018.
- Utilized logistic regression to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic factors (housing standards, education, child poverty) and the number of treated burn patients.
- Population size estimates and standard of living indicators were sourced from Eurostat and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.
Main Results:
- Several socioeconomic factors, including low housing standards, low educational attainment, children in jobless households, and risk of poverty, were identified as predictors of burn injury rates.
- While a slight overall decrease in treated patients was noted, there was a distinct drop in 2014 followed by a slight recovery in 2015, with rates stabilizing thereafter.
Conclusions:
- The observed decline in paediatric burn injuries is likely multifactorial.
- Improvements in the standard of living, such as better housing, increased education levels, higher employment rates, and reduced child poverty, are significant contributing factors alongside the declining paediatric population in Croatia.
Introduction:
In the "Children's Hospital Zagreb Referral Centre for Paediatric Trauma of the Ministry of Health Republic of Croatia (MHC)" we observed a significant decline in the number of both hospitalised and ambulatory treated paediatric patients with burn injuries in the period from 2011 to 2018. Our hypothesis is that this decline could be either due to the decline of the paediatric population of Croatia or due to the economic growth and the improvement in the standard of living that Croatians have enjoyed in the past decade.
Materials And Methods:
In this observational study, we analysed data on the numbers of patients treated due to burn injuries from January 2011 to December 2018 in the Children's Hospital Zagreb Hospital. Indicators of standard of living and population size estimates were obtained from Eurostat and the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. Associations between the proportion of people with poor standard of living and the number of treated patients were analysed with logistic regression models.
Results:
Percentage of the population with low housing standards, percentage of Croatians with low level of education, percentage of children that live in jobless households, and percentage of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion were predictors of the rate of hospital admissions, ambulatory treated patients and total number of treatments. The slight decrease in the rate of treated patients was interrupted with notable decline in 2014 followed by the slight increase in 2015. Over following years, the rate did not change remarkably.
Conclusion:
Apart from the decline of the paediatric population of Croatia, it is reasonable to assume that the improvement in the standard of housing, level of education and employment rate as well as the reduction in the risk of poverty and social exclusion in children had a notable contribution to the decline in the rate of paediatric burns in the observed period.
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