Epidemiology of outpatient burns in Tehran: An analysis of 4813 cases
Introduction
Injuries represent one of the most important public health problems faced by both developing and developed countries. Of the major injuries, burns cause more than 1% of the global burden of disease [1]. Annually, 2 million burn cases are reported in the US, of which 740,000 cases need hospitalisation and others are managed as outpatients. Reported data indicate that most burns are minor and 80–90% of these cases can be managed as outpatients [2], [3] although they are still at great risk of several physical and psychological consequences [1].
The aetiological factors of burns vary in different countries. For planning and implementing prevention programmes, the epidemiological features of burns should be determined in each country [4]. Although there are several reports from Iran concerning the epidemiology of burns [1], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], most have focussed on hospitalised cases, and outpatient burns have rarely been studied [1]. Thus, the pattern of outpatient burn injury that consists of a majority of burn cases has not yet been determined in Iran. This study was designed to evaluate the epidemiologic pattern of these injuries.
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Patients and methods
The study had a cross-sectional design. Burned patients who presented to Shahid Motahari Hospital from 1 January to 31 December 2004 and were managed as outpatients were included in the study. The mentioned hospital is the sole burn centre in Tehran in addition to being a referral centre for severe burn cases from all areas of the Capitol and other nearby cities and villages. Although it covers outpatients from all parts of Tehran, it was found that most of the patients lived in areas around
Results
During a 1-year period, 4813 outpatient burn cases, including 293 infants (6%; ≤12 months) with mean age of 10.68 ± 2.27 (mean ± S.D.) months (minimum: 1 month and maximum: 12 months), were received. The mean age of the other patients was 31.3 ± 18.3 years and ranged from 1.5 to 91 years. The fact that there were 2901 males (60%) in our series was statistically significant (P < 0.001, chi square test). Fig. 1 shows the gender distribution of the patients in different age groups. With respect to marital
Discussion
To our knowledge, this study is the first report from Iran which exclusively focusses on outpatient burns. This investigation provides the epidemiologic pattern of outpatient burns in a single burn centre in Tehran. Similar to reports from other countries [2], [12], [13], this study showed that males are affected more frequently than females in all age groups. Our results are also compatible with previous reports from Iran [1], [5], [8].
The mean age of the non-infant cases in our study was 31
Acknowledgement
This study was supported by a grant of Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
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