Adult kitchen-related burn injuries: The impact of COVID-19

Kitchen-related burn injuries are common and preventable. To limit the spread of COVID-19, public health orders encouraged the public to stay at home which may have led to an increase in kitchen-related burn injuries.

To assess adult kitchen-related burns treated in an outpatient setting in general, and especially looking at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and epidemiology of these burns.

For this retrospective, population-based study, data were obtained for adult patients who suffered burn injuries resulting in a visit to a Canadian tertiary Burn Clinic between April 2016 and March 2021 specifically looking at demographics, burn etiology, severity and anatomical location and the need for surgery. Separately, we compared the patients before and after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 1, 2020).

A total of 1380 burn patients were identified. Of these, 38 % (N = 521) sustained a kitchen-related burn. The median patient age was 40 years (range 18-95) and 282 (54.1 %) were female. The most common etiology and location were scald (76.8 %) and anterior arm (28.5 %), respectively. Thirty-two (6.1 %) patients required admission to the Burn Unit and 26 of these had surgeries. Additionally, 72 (13.8 %) patients had surgery as an outpatient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, East Asian patients saw a significant increase in kitchen burns (p < 0.01).

Over 1/3 of burns at the outpatient burn clinic were kitchen-related. About 94 % of these were treated as outpatient only. The incidence of kitchen-related burns did not change during the COVID-19 pandemic, but we found significant differences in ethnic distribution. These results provide a unique opportunity to focus on communication and education and set up preventative measures.