The Cost of Mental Health Comorbid Conditions in Burn Patients: A Single-site Experience

Many burn survivors suffer from psychiatric sequelae long after their physical injuries have healed. This may even be more pronounced in individuals who have a history of mental health disorders prior to admission. The aim of this study was to explore the clinical outcomes of patients with previously diagnosed mental health disorders who were admitted to our Burn Center. This was a single-site, retrospective review using our institutional Burn Center registry. All adult patients (18 years or older) admitted to our Burn Center between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2021 with burn injury or inhalation injury were included in this study. Variables of interest included demographics and burn mechanism. Outcomes of interests were length of stay, cost of hospitalization, and mortality. A P-value of < .05 was considered statistically significant for all analyses. There were 4958 patients included in this study, with 35% of these patients having a previous diagnosis of mental health disorders. Patients with mental health disorders were younger, with larger burns, P < .05. They had significantly longer lengths of stay and significantly higher costs (P < .00001). Mortality for those with a mental health disorder history was 2% and 3% for those without (P = .04). Patients with pre-existing mental health disorders had decreased odds of mortality. However, they do have extended lengths of stay, which may exhaust current sparse staff and burn bed resources.