• Yavuz Albayrak, Ayetullah Temiz, Ayşe Albayrak, Rıfat Peksöz, Fatih Albayrak, and Yusuf Tanrıkulu.
• Department of General Surgery, Erzurum Region Training and Research Hospital, Erzurum-Turkey. yavuzalbayrakdr@gmail.com.
• Ulus Travma Acil Cer. 2018 Jan 1; 24 (1): 25-30.

BackgroundBurn trauma is a significant health problem that has physical, psychological, and economic repercussions on affected patients. The aim of this study was to present epidemiological and demographic characteristics of patients treated over an 8-year period at a reference burn treatment center located in the northeast of Turkey and serving a population of approximately four million people.MethodsEach patient's medical record was reviewed, and demographic features, source of burns, place of residence, total body surface area (TBSA), surgical treatment, duration of hospital stay, and mortality rates were analyzed.ResultsThe most frequent cause of burn was scalding from hot liquids (2013 cases, 74.2%). Freeze burn was observed in 16 (0.6%) cases due to climatic conditions of the region where our burn center is located. Grouping based on TBSA revealed that 88.7% patients had TBSA of 0%-15%, 8% patients had TBSA of 15%-30%, and 3.3% patients had TBSA ≥ %30.The most common microorganism was Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A total of 24 patients (0.9%; 8 males, 16 females) died, including 7 children and 17 adults.ConclusionRemoval of tandirs and replacement with high ovens, restriction of cheese and butter production under primitive circumstances, encouraging cheese and butter production via dairy farm systems, and raising people's awareness through training programs could greatly reduce the number of the burn accidents occurring in this region.

27 keywords...

hide…