Changing trends in electrical burn injury due to technology

Abstract

Background: Electrical burn injuries result from accidental contact with exposed parts of electrical appliances, wiring, or lightning strikes. The purpose of this study was to analyze the mode of electric burn injuries occurring in the current technological world. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of 3-year experience of electric burn injury case admitted in the burn unit of our institute was conducted from April 2016 to March 2019. Of the total 3983 patients, 914 patients were of electric burn injury. All age groups of patients were included, with exclusion of thermal, flame, and scald burn patients. We evaluated the variables according to age, sex, total burn surface area, injury type, and mode of injury. Results: Out of 914 cases, we had admitted 329 cases from February 2016 to August 2017 (Group 1) and 585 cases admitted from September 2017 to March 2019 (Group 2). Seven hundred sixty-nine cases were male and 145 were female. Group 1 had 187 cases in the age group of 40–59 years. While in Group 2, 226 cases were in the age group of 20–39 years. About 40.7% of the cases had electric burn due to working over electric pole in Group 1, while in Group 2, 19.65% cases had electric burn due to malfunctioning of appliances and 2.7% cases had smartphone electric burn injury. About 3.9% of the cases had electric burn due to working or taking selfies near electric train. Conclusion: In this technology era, the use of electric current in various appliances leads to increase the risk of electric burn injury, and these injuries can be prevented by education and safety measures to reduce the incidence of electrical injuries.