• Jingjing Ruan, Maomao Xi, and Weiguo Xie.
• Wuhan Institute of Burns, Tongren Hospital of Wuhan University (Wuhan Third Hospital), Wuhan, China.
• Burns. 2021 Dec 1; 47 (8): 1915-1921.

BackgroundBy analyzing the epidemic characteristics of pediatric burns in a burn center serving large areas of Hubei Provence and partly surrounding provinces around Wuhan City, the aim of this study is to provide better strategies for the prevention and care for pediatric burns.MethodsPediatric burn patients who were younger than 13 years old in Wuhan Third Hospital from 2004 to 2018 were included. Demographic and clinical data were collected, analyzed and compared among groups.Results12,661 pediatric burns, mean aged 2.37 ± 2.30 y, were admitted during the 15 years, with 7973 boys (62.97%) and 4688 girls (37.03%). By age groups, infant (<3y), preschool (>3-6y) and school children (>6-13y) accounted for 81.12% (10,270 cases), 12.08% (1530 cases) and 6.80% (861 cases) respectively. The most cause of injury was scalds (11,232, 88.71%), followed by flame burns (917, 7.24%), electric burns (201, 1.59%), contact burns (127, 1.00%), firework or firecracker (124, 0.98%), chemical burns (40, 0.32%) and hot crush injury (20, 0.16%). The mean age of firework or firecracker burns was 6.19 ± 2.83y, electric burns 5.18 ± 3.31y, flame burns 4.73 ± 3.53y, hot crush injury 3.85 ± 2.37 y, contact burns 3.66 ± 3.35y, chemical burns 3.03 ± 2.50y, and scald 2.06 ± 1.91y. Over half cases (57.34%) were small burns less than 10% total burn surface area (TBSA) and the larger TBSA, the fewer number of patients. The mortality rate was 0.11% and correlated with TBSA, age and etiology. The mean length of stay (LOS) was 12.63 ± 11.91 days and highly correlated with etiology and TBSA. The mean hospital cost was 11210.76 ± 21248.87 RMB (about 1600 USD) or 1626.91 ± 3957.59 RMB (about 230 USD) per % TBSA, which was correlated with depth of burn, TBSA, etiology, LOS and age.ConclusionPediatric burns in central China was still common and even increasing. Majority of the pediatric burn victims were boys under three years old, while the mean ages of different etiologies varied from about 2-6 years old. Education and prevention aiming the high risks are the key point to decrease pediatric burns.Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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