Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Working in burn units has its unique challenges and may increase the rate of depression, anxiety, and burnout in burn care staff. We aimed to estimate the rate of depression, anxiety, and burnout among the members of the burn care team. ⋯ Our results indicated that a significant number of burn care team members met the criteria for anxiety, depression, and burnout. The relationship between anxiety, depression, and burnout was significantly positive. Timely and proper intervention is necessary to reduce anxiety, depression, and burnout in burn care providers.
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Pruritus, a common symptom of burn wounds, arises from skin tissue damage and abnormal tissue healing. Chronic post-burn pruritus (CPBP) is defined as itching that persists for six weeks or more. The brain mechanisms underlying CPBP are not understood adequately. This study aims to explore abnormal brain function in CPBP patients and identify potential pathogenesis of pruritus. ⋯ Our data suggest that patients with CPBP show alterations in ReHo, ALFF, and fALFF values primarily in brain regions associated with the default mode network and sensorimotor areas. These results may provide valuable insights relevant to the neuropathology of CPBP.
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The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) is frequently used to assess scar quality after burns. It is important to be aware of the minimal important change (MIC) and the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) to establish if a POSAS score represents a clinically relevant change or difference. The aim of this study is to explore the MIC and MCID of POSAS version 2.0. ⋯ Results suggest that patients consider minor differences (less than 0.75 on the 1-10 scale) in POSAS scores as clinically important scar quality changes. MCID values can be used to evaluate the effects of burn treatment and perform sample-size calculations.
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An area of rehabilitation research in burns is the impact of co-morbidities on disease trajectory. Obesity is a comorbidity of increasing public health concern, but its role remains controversial regarding burn injury and physical recovery. Our aim was to evaluate the association between body mass index (BMI) categories as a measure of obesity at discharge and self-reported physical function (PF) during recovery of adult burn survivors. ⋯ Being overweight was associated with improved and faster recovery of PF scores compared to normal, underweight, and obese burn patients during long-term recovery. Hence, our data suggests that long-term recovery and restoration of PF in adult burn survivors is not compromised by a small excess in body weight.
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Early retrospective data identify that dysphagia is common in older persons with burn injury, suggesting a rate of 47 %, and that it is associated with medical, burn, and nutritional outcomes. ⋯ One in every two patients ≥ 75 years admitted with burn injury will demonstrate dysphagia during their hospital admission. Those with pre-existing cognitive impairment are most at risk.