J Korean Surg Soc.  1998 Mar;54(3):425-434.

Pediatric Burns

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, Hallym University.
  • 2Burn Center, Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Burns remain a common public problem among children and often cause severe injuries, resulting in physical and mental problems for the patients. Children constitute a risk group because of their natural curiosity, their mode of reaction, their impulsiveness and lack of experience in risk assessment. PURPOSE: The objects of this study were to characterize pediatric burn injuries and to understand their clinical outcomes in Korea.
METHODS
we analyzed the records of the 1401 pediatric burn patients (age 0~15 years old) out of the 4423 burn patients, who have been admitted to the Burn Center, Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University for 5 years (1991~1995).
RESULTS
Males were more affected than females; 58.1% were males and 41.9% were females. Most thermal injuries in children occur in the age group younger than 5 years (82%); especially 66.9% of pediatric burn patients were under the age of 3. Scalding burns accounted for 72.5%, and flame burns fors 18.1%. Most pediatric burns occurred in urban areas. The most common activities related to pediatic burn injuries were food preparation and food consumption, which accounted for 57.5% of all burn injuries. In 66% of the cases, the extent of the burned surface was under 10%. In 77.8% of the cases, the depth of the burn wound was 2nd degree. In 63.9% of the cases, the duration of hospitalization was 3 weeks or less. The incidence of wound infection was 14.8%, and 50% of the infections were caused by Pseudomonas aerusinosa. The major complications were wound infection (30.9%), hypertrophic scarring (21.4%) and irritant dermatitis (20.3%). The mortality rate in a series of 1,401 pediatric patients was 2.6%. The main causes of death were sepsis, burn shock, ARDS and air way obstruction. When 51~70% of the surface area was burned the mortality was 25%, when over 70% of the surface area was burned the mortality was 81.3%. SPCCULATION: The successful way to prevent pediatric burn is to reduce the risk to children by effective intervention.

Keyword

Pediatric burn; Mortality; Children; Complications; Intervention

MeSH Terms

Burn Units
Burns*
Cause of Death
Child
Cicatrix, Hypertrophic
Dermatitis, Irritant
Exploratory Behavior
Female
Heart
Hospitalization
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Male
Mortality
Pseudomonas
Risk Assessment
Sepsis
Shock
Wound Infection
Wounds and Injuries
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