The Journal of burn care & rehabilitation
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Scald injuries in children often occur as the result of them pulling a container of hot liquid off a countertop or stove. To date, there have been no studies that have specifically examined the impact of the burning agent after this mechanism of injury on the magnitude of injury or the hospital resources consumed in caring for these patients. In this study, we sought to compare the extent and depth of injury, hospital resources consumed, and outcomes of children burned by pulling a container of grease or other liquid onto themselves. ⋯ Mean length of stay was 16.8 +/- 2.5 days and 9.1 +/- 1.0 days for the grease and nongrease groups, respectively (P <.001). Scalds caused by children pulling a grease fryer onto themselves result in more extensive and deeper injuries and greater consumption of hospital resources than those from other liquids. These findings support the need for safer product design and more specific warnings in product labeling and instructions as to the danger of severe scald injury to minimize the occurrence of such injuries.