A retrospective analysis of 1083 Turkish patients with serious burns: Part 2: Burn care, survival and mortality
Introduction
The rate of patient survival after burn injury has risen steadily over the past two decades [1]. It is vitally important that we understand the factors that contribute to lethal complications in burn care, as this is key to reducing mortality. Epidemiological investigations help practitioners identify these factors. Our aim in this study was to contribute to knowledge in this area by determining how survival was linked to a number of variables in a large series of Turkish burn patients.
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Materials and methods
The study group consisted of 1083 patients who were admitted to the Burns Unit in the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Cukurova University between August 1988 and the end of 1997. Information in the patients’ records was retrospectively analysed. The variables studied included sex, age, burn cause, severity of burn injury, occupation/daily activity, time from burn injury to hospital admission, length of hospital stay, and treatment method. The data were analyzed using the
Results
A total of 1083 patients were hospitalised in the Burns Unit between August 1988 and the end of 1997. Three hundred sixty-three (33.5%) of these individuals died of burn complications (Fig. 1 and Table 1).
The findings in relation to survival were as follows (Table 1).
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Half of the study population was made up of adults (≥15 years) and half was comprised of children (0–14 years). The mean age of the survivors was 17.9±14.3 (median = 15 years) years, and the mean age of those who died was 18.6±17.7
Discussion
Mortality in our 1083 Turkish burn patients was 37.6% in the first 5 years, and 29.8% in the second 5 years. This may reflect experience gained by the medical staff, and also improved facilities in the unit. Training and experience are extremely important elements that can significantly enhance survival rates in a burn unit. Educational meetings should be held regularly, and burn units should always strive to employ highly qualified personnel.
The analysis also revealed that age was important
Conclusion
Our findings reveal that age, sex, burn cause, and extent and depth of burn are important predictors of patient survival. These results concur with those reported in numerous other studies [2], [6], [7], [8], [9]. Flame not only was the commonest burn cause but also carried the highest mortality risk. We found that, for patients who receive appropriate medical/surgical care, longer hospital stay does not enhance mortality. The analysis also showed that occupation/daily activity is associated
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