• Z Zvizdic, K Bećirović, S Salihagić, E Milisic, A Jonuzi, and A Karamustafic.
• Clinic of Paediatric Surgery, University Clinical Centre Sarajevo, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Ann Burns Fire Disasters. 2017 Dec 31; 30 (4): 250-255.

AbstractWe first aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and clinical pattern of hospitalized paediatric burn patients in Sarajevo Canton. Second, we aimed to determine the targets for the paediatric burn prevention program. This descriptive retrospective study was carried out to analyse the demographic, etiologic and clinical data of 73 hospitalized paediatric burn patients in Sarajevo Canton over a 5-year period from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2016. The differences between various groups were evaluated using the chisquare test. During the course of the study, 73 paediatric burns (37 boys and 36 girls; ratio 1:0.97) were hospitalized. The overall mean age was 3.0 ± 2.9 years (range: 3 months to 12.5 years). The mean total body surface area burned was 8.4 ± 8.3%. The most common causes of burns in children were scald injuries (84.9%) followed by contact with a hot object (9.6%). No children were found to have burns caused by chemicals or electricity. A total of 97.3% of paediatric burn injuries occurred at home (p<0.001), and almost all were preventable. Although the most burns were recorded in the spring months (35.6%), there was no significant seasonal variation in burns (p = 0.199). Average length of hospital stay (LOS) was 16.32 ± 12 days (range: 1 to 65 days). The findings of the current study revealed that the main cause of paediatric burns was scald occurring at home. These data can contribute to the development of a prevention program to protect the paediatric population from burns.

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