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Citation
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Johnson EL, Maguire S, Hollén LI, Nuttall D, Rea D, Kemp AM. Burns 2017; 43(6): 1218-1226. |
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Affiliation
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Institute of Primary Care & Public Health, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff, UK. Electronic address: KempAM@cardiff.ac.uk. |
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Abstract
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AIMS: To inform childhood burn prevention by identifying demographics, clinical features and circumstances of unintentional non-scald burns.
METHODS: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted across Cardiff, Bristol and Manchester, including six emergency departments, three minor injury units and one burns unit between 13/01/2013-01/10/2015. Data collected for children aged <16 years with any burn (scald, contact, flame, radiation, chemical, electrical, friction) included: demographics, circumstances of injury and clinical features. Scalds and burns due to maltreatment were excluded from current analysis.
RESULTS: Of 564 non-scald cases, 60.8% were boys, 51.1% were <3 years old, 90.1% (472/524) of burns affected one anatomical site. Contact burns accounted for 86.7% (489/564), 34.8% (137/394) of which were from objects placed at >0.6m and 76.5% (349/456) affected the hands. Hairstyling devices were the most common agent of contact burns (20.5%, 100/487); 34.1% (30/88) of hairstyling devices were on the floor. Of children aged 10-15 years, 63.7% (65/102), sustained contact burns of which 23.2% (13/56) were preparing food, and when burnt from hairstyling devices, 73.3% (11/15) were using them at the time of injury.
CONCLUSIONS: Parents of toddlers must learn safe storage of hazardous items. Older children should be taught skills in safe cooking and hairstyling device use.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.
Language: en |