Epidemiology and mortality of burned patients treated in the university hospital center in Tirana, Albania: An analysis of 2337 cases during the period 1998–2008

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BackgroundThe basis for qualitative changes concerning everyday clinical practice are created from epidemiological studies, which not only generalize situations but at the same time provide specific details of the country's features; especially during periods of social transition. The aim of this study was to present demographic and epidemiological features of severe burns treated in the Service of Burns in UHC (University Hospital Center) in Albania and to analyze burn mortality as an important outcome measure. MethodThe data used was obtained by the analysis of the medical records of 2337 patients hospitalized in Burns Service ICU near in Tirana, Albania during 1998–2008. Statistical analysis is done with SPSS 15 software. Descriptive analyses, inferential statistics and Chi-square test and Kendall's tau_b are calculated. Logistic regression is used for the prediction of death probability by two risk variables, BSA burned and age. ResultsThe severe burn incidence was 7 patients per 100,000 persons/year. The overall mean estimated BSA (%) is 22.8±14.7. The main causes of the burn were found to be the scalds in 61.8% of the cases followed by flame (23%), chemicals (10.7%) and electrical injury in 4.5% of the cases. The mean hospital period is 11.6±10. The overall mortality is 10.5%. Based on probability of death, we noticed that older age and larger burn size were associated with a higher likelihood of mortality. ConclusionsThe long-term studies and the comparison of our results with the ones of other burn centers has allowed us to determine the actual level of care and as well as to build up contemporary protocols in order to improve the treatment with the objection of decreasing the mortality.