• Holden W Richards, Junxin Shi, Rajan K Thakkar, Sheila Giles, Krista K Wheeler, and Renata Fabia.
• Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, Portland, OR, United States. Electronic address: richardh@ohsu.edu.
• Burns. 2021 Mar 1; 47 (2): 322-326.

BackgroundDespite the vast literature studying the opioid crisis, sparse data describe this in the pediatric burn population. This study sought to assess patient-level characteristics and their potential effects on opioid administration in nonsurgical pediatric burn inpatients.MethodsAdmitted burn patients from 2013 to 2018 with nonsurgical management at an American Burn Association (ABA) verified pediatric burn center were retrospectively identified. Morphine milligram equivalents by weight (MME/kg) per admission were evaluated through a multiple loglinear regression with race, sex, age, total body surface area burned (TBSA), and burn depth as predictors. Simple linear regression was used to evaluate the temporal trend of median opioid utilization.ResultsA total of 806 patients (55% White, 35% Black, 5% Hispanic, 5% Other) were included. In an adjusted analysis, no differences in opioid administration were seen by sex, burn degree, or for Blacks and Hispanics when compared with Whites. Increased MME/kg was associated with older age (10-18 years; p<0.0001) and larger burns (>5% TBSA burned; p<0.0001). From 2013 to 2018, median MME/kg per admission declined significantly (2013:0.21, 2018:0.09; p=0.0103).ConclusionsNonsurgical burn patients who were older and presented with larger TBSA experienced marked increases in opioid utilization. Overall, opioid administration decreased over time.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

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