• Erin Crofton, Pamela Meredith, Paul Gray, and Jennifer Strong.
• School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia; The Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital, Queensland Health, Butterfield Street, Brisbane, Queensland, 4029, Australia. Electronic address: erin.crofton@health.qld.gov.au.
• Burns. 2022 Nov 1; 48 (7): 159015981590-1598.

ObjectiveEmerging evidence suggests that individual levels of sensory sensitivity may impact treatment outcomes for people recovering from burn injuries. For example, individuals with higher levels of sensory sensitivity were less adherent with compression garment wear, often used for scar management. The purpose of this study was to characterise sensory patterns for a sample of burn-injured patients as a cohort, using normative data as the reference. As different patterns of sensory processing can have implications clinically, understanding this at the cohort level may provide valuable insight for therapy.MethodThis was a secondary analysis of data collected during a cross-sectional study. Adults (N = 117) attending the Professor Stuart Pegg Adult Burns Unit outpatient clinic completed the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile and the following quantitative sensory tests: two-point discrimination; mechanical detection threshold; and pressure pain threshold.ResultsCompared to matched normative data, burn-injured patients reported higher levels of sensory sensitive and avoiding patterns, and experienced lower detection thresholds for touch and pain.ConclusionsHigher reports of sensory sensitivity and sensory avoiding, and lower thresholds for touch and pain, have been correlated with tactile defensiveness. Tactile defensiveness has been associated with social withdrawal and isolation, all of which could contribute to decreased engagement in therapy. The ways in which these sensory characteristics impact on burn-related treatments, such as compression garment adherence, warrant further investigation.Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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