Epidemiological study of burn injuries and its mortality risk factors in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Burn injuries account for a significant cause of mortality and morbidity amongst the Indian population. Since prevention is more important than the treatment of such injuries, this study was undertaken to find out the exact epidemiological determinants of such injuries and thus to try and formulate effective preventive strategies. Aims and Objectives: To find out the epidemiological characteristics of burn patients in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A Cohort review of patients admitted over a period of 3 years from January 2010 to September 2013 in the burns unit of our institute. Data were collected from hospital admission books which included age, sex, religion, Total body surface area burns, location, mode of burn and the cause of burns. Data were entered in MS EXCEL software and analysed. Results: There are 3179 patients included in the study. The mean age of patients was 28 years (SD=14.7 years) and overall male to female ratio was 0.6. The percent of Total body surface area for burned patients ranged between 1% and 100% and maximum number of patients were admitted with 30 to 50 % burns (27.5%) The median hospital stay was 5 days. There was a significant association between Total body surface area burns and hospital stay ( P P Conclusion: High mortality rate amongst patients is a major concern in the present scenario of health care towards burn injuries.