The epidemiological characteristic and trends of burns globally

Burns is a type of injury, caused by unintentional exposure to substances of high temperature, including hot liquid, solid, and objects radiating heat energy, placing a high burden not only on patients' families but also on national healthcare systems globally. It is difficult for policymakers and clinicians to formulate targeted management strategies for burns because data on current epidemiological patterns worldwide are lacking.

Data on burns were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 Study. The incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and deaths of burns in 204 countries and regions from 1990 to 2019 were calculated and stratified by sex, age, geographical location, and sociodemographic index (SDI). The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) of incidence, DALYs, and deaths was calculated to evaluate the temporal trends. All analyses were performed using R software, version 4.1.1, with 2-sided P-values < .05 indicating a statistically significant difference.

A total of 8,378,122 new cases (95% UI, 6,531,887-10,363,109cases) of burns were identified globally in 2019, which is almost evenly split between men and women, and most of the new cases were concentrated in the 10-19-year age group. Besides, burns account for 111,292 deaths (95% UI, 132,392-88,188) globally in 2019, most of which were concentrated in those aged 1-4 years. The burden of burns measured in DALYs was 7,460,448.65 (95% UI, 5,794,505.89-9,478,717.81) in 2019, of which 67% and 33% could be attributed to YLLs and YLDs, respectively. The EAPC of incidence, DALYs, and deaths were negative, the age-standardized rate (ASR) of incidence, DALYs, and deaths were considered to be decreasing in most of the regions, and the EAPCs were negatively correlated with SDI levels, universal health coverage (UHC), and gross domestic product (GDP).

Globally, the age-standardized rates of burn incidence, DALYs, and mortality, as well as the number of burn DALYs and death cases will continuously decrease, but the number of new burn cases has an increasing tendency globally. In addition, the EAPCs of burns in incidence, DALYs, and deaths indicated that the burden of burns was considered to be decreasing in most of the regions. And from the relationship of EAPCs with SDI, UHC index, and GDP, indicate that prevention burns not only depend on health spending per capita but also depend on the education level per capita and healthcare system performance, but it does not mean higher health spending corresponds to higher UHC index, which needs high efficiency of translating health spending into individuals health gains.