Epidemiology of 377 patients with chemical burns in Guangdong province
Introduction
Chemical burn after thermal injury (fire and scald, etc.) is the second must common cause of burns in China [1]. Cutaneous damage in chemical burns is much more severe than in thermal injury with greater potential for progressive tissue destruction [2]. Only a prompt skin rinse will lessen the depth of injury. Additionally, delay in applying of the rinse may lead to systemic toxicity. Caution is therefore the best way to prevent this type of danger or tragedy.
The aetiology of chemical burns varies according to the population, geographical location, surrounding industry, and social environment [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. Guangdong province, lying in the south of China, is one of the first Chinese regions open to the rest of the world. The economic development level and living standards are much higher than in other regions of the continent, partly due to the fast increase of private and collective enterprise. Chemicals are used widely in industry production and daily life activity, but the rules and regulations for managing chemicals are not complete enough and accidents producing chemical burns commonly occur. This paper will present the epidemiology and results of 377 patients admitted with chemical burns to this hospital over the period of 1987–2001.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Data were collected from 4435 consecutive patients with burns, admitted to the Red Cross Hospital, the largest burn treatment center in Guangdong province. The hospital has 68 beds and 10 ICU beds for burned patients from most areas of the province. Patients studied were admitted from January 1987 to December 2001. Of the 4435 patients, 377 (8.5%) were chemical burns. The findings were reviewed for sex, age, occupation, origin, and location of burn, causes, and type of chemicals, involved. In
Sex, age, and occupation
There were 296 male and 81 female burned patients, with a male to female ratio of 3.65:1. The mean age of patients was 26 years, with a range of 11 months–78 years. 89.2% of the patients were 15–60 years old (Table 1). The occupation of these patients included worker, farmer, students, pre-school children, managing clerk (administrator and professional technician), military, retired people, and others. The majority of patients were workers (64.7%), and the second most common group was farmers
Discussion
Chemical burn is a common type of burn injury in China. There was 6.6% of chemical burns in a major series of 48978 cases of burn patients, based on data collected from 15 large burn treatment center. The rate of chemical burns reached 11.8% at one large burn treatment center in Shanghai [1]. The rate of chemical burns in this study was 8.5%, the second most common cause of burns among all patients. This rate was greater than the reported rate in the Hong Kong area [8]. The economy has been
References (10)
- et al.
Analysis of 155 patients with chemical injury: a 5-year experience
Burns
(1993) - et al.
Chemical burns: our 10-year experience
Burns
(1992) - et al.
Epidemiological of domestic chemical burns in Saudi Arabia
Burns
(2001) - et al.
An epidemiological study of 1063 hospittalized burn patients in a tertiary burns centre in Hong Kong
Burns
(2001) - Fang ZY, Wu ZL, Gao XS. Burn: Theory and Clinical, Shengyang: Liaoning Science and Technology Publish House;...
Cited by (62)
Ocular-periocular burns in a tertiary hospital: Epidemiologic characteristics
2023, Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Men were more frequently exposed to burns than women, similar to other studies in the literature. This male dominance is attributed to the more dangerous working conditions to which males are exposed.14–16 Injuries in children aged under 10 years mostly occurred at home (93.3%) with scalding burns (53.6%).
Incidence and characteristics of chemical burns
2017, BurnsCitation Excerpt :Cleaning agents especially, which are used in restaurants and cafeterias (alkali), and building cleanings (acid), were the typical agents. As for body region of skin chemical burns, a study reported that the lower limb was the most common region of chemical burns [6]. However, other studies reported that hands and wrists, or upper extremities, were the most common burn regions [1,6].
Chemical burns revisited: What is the most appropriate method of decontamination?
2015, BurnsCitation Excerpt :Chemical burns represent the second most common cause of hospital admission for patients with burns after thermally related injuries [1,2].
A review of treatment strategies for hydrofluoric acid burns: Current status and future prospects
2014, BurnsCitation Excerpt :For example, Ricketts and Kimble [17] performed a retrospective analysis of chemical burns at the Royal Hobart Hospital, Australia, and found that the most common aetiological agents were cement (25%), sulphuric acid (16%), and hydrofluoric acid (16%). Xie et al. [14] investigated chemical burns in Guandong, China, from 1987 to 2001, and found that most chemical burns occurred in the workplace (67.8%) and that HF was one of the top three substances causing chemical burns. Zhang and colleagues [12] surveyed the epidemiological features of chemical burns in Zhejiang province from September 2008 to August 2009; 492 chemical burn patients were reviewed, of which 87.6% of the cases occurred at work.