• Kwa Kelly A A KAA Burn Centre, Red Cross Hospital, Vondellaan 13, NL-1942 LE, Beverwijk, The Netherlands. kkwa@rkz.nl., Anouk Pijpe, Zjir M Rashaan, Wim E Tuinebreijer, Roelf S Breederveld, and Nancy E van Loey.
• Burn Centre, Red Cross Hospital, Vondellaan 13, NL-1942 LE, Beverwijk, The Netherlands. kkwa@rkz.nl.
• Acta Derm. Venereol. 2018 Jul 11; 98 (7): 636-640.

AbstractItch is a common problem after burns. Although the topic receives increasing attention, the number of prospective studies is limited. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of acute traumatic stress symptoms, controlled for injury characteristics, age and sex, on itch over a period of 18 months using multilevel analysis. A total of 226 respondents provided itch scores. Participants completed the Burn Itch Questionnaire during admission (n = 208) and at 3 (n =179), 12 (n =143) and 18 (n =99) months post-burn. They completed the Impact of Event Scale to assess acute traumatic stress symptoms during admission. Skin graft requirement, a higher level of acute traumatic stress symptoms and younger age were statistically significant predictors of a higher itch score. Younger age was particularly associated with higher itch scores during admission, whereas the effect of skin grafting was particularly observed at 3 months post-burn. This study replicates the predictive role of traumatic stress symptoms, which warrants further research.

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