Citation

Thombs BD, Singh VA, Milner SM. Shock 2006; 26(4): 348-352.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; and †Department of Surgery, Division of Burns, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, The Shock Society, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/01.shk.0000228170.94468.e1

PMID

16980880

Abstract

It is important to have an accurate understanding of mortality risk in children to make sound treatment decisions and to advise parents and families. Several studies have found that children younger than 4 years are at greater risk for mortality from burn injury than older children, although other studies have found no difference. All of these studies, however, have been limited by small sample sizes from single burn centers. The objective of this study was to assess age-related mortality risk in a sample of more than 12,000 children from a national burn registry who were admitted to 43 burn centers in the United States from 1992 to 2002. The study showed that, compared with older children, children younger than 4 years were significantly more likely to be admitted with scalds rather than flame burns, had smaller burn injuries, and were less likely to have an inhalation injury. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess age-related mortality risk. After adjusting for sex, burn size, inhalation injury, and type of burn (flame versus scald), the risk of mortality was substantially higher for children aged 0 to 1.9 years (odds ratio, 2.70; P < 0.001) and for children aged 2.0 to 3.9 years (odds ratio, 2.00; P < 0.01) as compared with children aged 4 years or older. This study provides strong evidence that when comparing children based on burn injuries of similar size and etiology, children younger than 4 years are at substantial risk for death as compared with older children.

Language: en