Epidemiological and clinical features of paediatric inpatients for scars: A retrospective study

To describe the epidemiological and clinical features of paediatric scar inpatients and then to facilitate therapeutic schedule for children with scars.

In this cross-sectional study, data of patients admitted for scar treatment in 1064 tertiary hospitals from 2013 to 2018 were extracted through the Hospital Quality Monitoring System (HQMS) database. Demographic and clinical features of children with scars were analysed statistically and highlighted compared with those of adults and the elderly scar cases.

In this study, 53,741 paediatric scar cases, accounting for 30.29% of all hospitalized for scar, were analysed. Compared to adults and the elderly, children with scars were mainly males (62.27% vs 50.98% vs 49.85%, P < 0.001) and were vulnerable to scalds (37.10%) and operative intervention (34.11%). Although the scalp/face/neck was the most common affected location, the proportion of scars involving upper limbs (27.88% vs 21.69% vs 7.28%, P < 0.001), lower limbs (15.14% vs 10.28% vs 6.56%, P < 0.001) and perineum (4.59% vs 3.13% vs 2.65%, P < 0.001) was higher in children than that in other two groups. Scar contracture was the most common complications in children (45.27%). Nearly 66% of paediatric scar cases received surgical treatment during hospitalization, among whom release of lesion was the most frequent operation (56.35%). The proportion of keloids was relatively lower in child cases than in other two groups (6.20% vs 14.48% vs 18.15%, P < 0.001). Additionally, the median LOS in child cases was 9 (5-15) days, slightly exceeding that in adult/elderly cases.

Scars were common inducing factors of hospitalization and contributed greatly to the disease burden of children. More attention should be paid to those who are males, burn survivors, or skin-injured at extremities and perineum to improve therapeutic strategies and prognoses for paediatric scar patients.