Redefining the concept of the elderly burn patient: Analysis of a multicentre international dataset

The elderly are highly vulnerable to major burn injuries. Typically, 'elderly' is accepted as ≥ 65 years of age. This cut-off is arbitrary, lacks a robust evidence base and is potentially damaging from a clinical-decision-making perspective. The study objective was to utilise a large international dataset of major burns to stratify mortality risk by age and objectively define 'elderly' patients with significantly higher risk of poor outcome.

We performed a sub-analysis of the RE-ENERGIZE clinical trial dataset. RE-ENERGIZE included 1200 patients admitted to 54 burn centres worldwide with 2nd and/or 3rd degree burns, who were expected to require skin grafting. In a first-of-its-kind age stratification study, we stratified major burns patients by five-year age intervals. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards analyses were performed with three-month mortality and time-to-discharge-alive (TTDA) as the primary and secondary outcomes.

Three-month mortality was 15.41 %. Age was associated with three-month mortality upon multivariable logistic regression analysis (p = 0.000, OR=1.06, CI=1.05-1.08), independently of total burn surface area burned (TBSA%), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Age 80 + was independently associated with increased mortality and TTDA, when compared to all referent 5-year age groups (p ≤ 0.000-0.043). The Lethal Dose 50 (LD50) for the 80 + group was 20.5 %.

We present a new threshold of risk stratification in patients with major burns; Patients ≥ 80 years have a significantly poorer outcome, irrespective of injury severity, resultant critical illness severity, and variables including comorbidities, which has implications for prognostication and management decisions.