Citation

van der Wal MB, Vloemans JF, Tuinebreijer WE, van de Ven P, van Unen E, van Zuijlen PP, Middelkoop E. Wound Repair Regen. 2012; 20(5): 676-687.

Affiliation

Burn Center, Red Cross Hospital, Beverwijk, the Netherlands; Association of Dutch Burn Centers, Red Cross Hospital Beverwijk, Beverwijk, the Netherlands; Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, MOVE Research Institute Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Wiley-Blackwell)

DOI

10.1111/j.1524-475X.2012.00820.x

PMID

22985039

Abstract

Long-term outcome of burn scars as well as the relation with clinically relevant parameters has not been studied quantitatively. Therefore, we conducted a detailed analysis on the clinical changes of burn scars in a longitudinal setup. In addition, we focused on the differences in scar quality in relation to the depth, etiology of the burn wound and age of the patient. Burn scars of 474 patients were subjected to a scar assessment protocol 3, 6, and 12 months postburn. Three different age groups were defined (≤5, 5-18, and ≥18 years). The observer part of the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale revealed a significant (p < 0.001) improvement in scar quality at 12 months compared with the 3- and 6-month data. Predictors for severe scarring are depth of the wound (p < 0.001) and total body surface area burned (p < 0.001). Etiology (p = 0.753) and age (p > 0.230) have no significant influence on scar quality when corrected for sex, total body surface area burned, time, and age or etiology, respectively.

Language: en