Epidemiological determinants of burns in paediatric and adolescent patients from a centre in western India

A 1-year prospective study of 112 burn patients up to 19 years of age aimed to identify and study the determinants and mortality experiences in these burn patients and found flame burns to be the commonest, followed by scalds and electric burns. All burns other than those caused by electricity were commoner in females, more so between 15 and 19 years of age. Burns were more frequent in winter and 85 per cent of them were domestic. Nearly all burns took place during day time with a higher incidence between 06.00-09.00 h and 14.00-21.00 h. The patient fatality rate (41.1 per cent) was associated with total burn surface area. Referral time-lag was an important determinant of mortality especially in less severe burns. As would be expected, hospital stay was significantly longer in survivors.