Epidemiology of paediatric burns in a tertiary centre in Hong Kong: A 10‐year review

Abstract

AbstractAimThe purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology and outcomes of paediatric burn patients requiring admission in a tertiary burns centre in Hong Kong over a 10‐year period to help focus burn prevention efforts.MethodA 10‐year retrospective review of 673 paediatric patients admitted to the Burns Unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, was carried out.ResultsMost of the burn injuries occurred at home (86.2%), and the vast majority of these burn injuries were due to accidents (99.6%). The majority of burns were caused by scalds (93.6%). There was no difference in number of admissions between the different seasons of the year (P = .798). The median total body surface area (TBSA) burn was 4.0% and the mean TBSA burn was 6.1%, ranging from 25% to 52%. Only 65.1% of patients received immediate first aid, out of which only 67.4% received proper first aid, translating to only 43.9% of patients having received what might be described as adequate first aid. As much as 22% of paediatric patients required surgical debridement and skin grafting of their burn wounds, and 23.2% of patients were noted to have hypertrophic scars on subsequent follow‐ups.ConclusionThe leading cause of paediatric burns admission in Hong Kong is scalds, which mostly occur at home. More burn prevention campaign should be developed to decrease the incidence of paediatric burn injuries.