Citation

Kramer CB, Rivara FP, Klein MB. J. Burn Care Res. 2010; 31(5): 734-739.

Affiliation

From the *Burn Center, daggerInjury Prevention and Research Center, double daggerDepartment of Pediatrics, and section signDivision of Plastic Surgery, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0b013e3181eebe76

PMID

20628307

PMCID

PMC3049159

Abstract

An understanding of population-specific variation in pediatric burn injuries is essential to the development of effective prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine the etiology of pediatric burn injury considering age and race categories using the National Burn Repository. The authors reviewed the records of all pediatric patients (age <18 years) in the American Burn Association's National Burn Registry injured between 1995 and 2007. The authors compared patient and injury characteristics across race, age, etiology, and payor status. A total of 46,582 patients were included in this study. The etiology of burn injury varied by both age and race. Populations of color were younger, comprising 53.8% of patients younger than 5 years, whereas 53.9% of the total study population identified as Caucasian. Scald etiology was disproportionately less common in patients identifying as Caucasian (39.9 vs 61.4%, P < .001), and scald was a common etiology in older children identifying as African American, Asian, and Hispanic. Inhalation injuries were also higher in patients identifying as Native American (5.4%), Hispanic (4.2%), and African American (3.7%). Pediatric burn injury etiology varies with age and race. These data should encourage careful consideration of race, age, and other differences in formulating the most effective, population-specific prevention and outreach strategies.

Language: en