Burns Injury in Under 5 Years Children Admitted to Burn & Plastic Surgery Hospital from 2009 to 2011

Abstract

Burns are a common cause of preventable injury and most of these injuries are in children under the age of 5 years and have the greatest length of stay for all hospital admission due to injuries. As the Children are not little adults, the symptoms, signs, and management will be completely different. The study was conducted to identify the epidemiological features of burns in children and analysis of the outcome of used management. Retrospective analysis of data of patients files under 5 years old who were admitted to pediatric burn and intensive care unit burn units in Burn and Plastic surgery hospital- Tripoli, in the period between (January 2009 to December 2011). 21% of the total admission were children under 5 years, 85% of those patients were mild to moderate injury and 15% were with severe injury. Male patients represent 61% of the admissions and female patients represent 39% of the admissions. Scald burn represent 69% of cases, fire burn with 14% and the rest because of electrical burn, therefore more cases in winter season. 50% of cases managed surgically with mean duration of stay in hospital 8 days. The study shows 60% of the patients were males, Scald burn injuries are most common, early surgical excision and grafting decline the duration of stay in hospital.