Epidemiology of operative burns at Kijabe Hospital from 2006 to 2010: Pilot study of a web-based tool for creation of the Kenya Burn Repository

Abstract

Introduction In order to implement effective burn prevention strategies, the WHO has called for improved data collection to better characterize burn injuries in low and middle income countries (LMIC). This study was designed to gather information on burn injury in Kenya and to test a model for such data collection. Methods The study was designed as a retrospective case series study utilizing an electronic data collection tool to assess the scope of burn injuries requiring operation at Kijabe Hospital from January 2006 to May 2010. Data were entered into a web-based tool to test its utility as the potential Kenya Burn Repository (KBR). Results 174 patients were included. The median age was 10 years. There was a male predominance (59% vs. 41%). Findings included that timing of presentation was associated with burn etiology (p = 0.009). Length of stay (LOS) was associated with burn etiology (p < 0.001). Etiology differed depending on the age group, with scald being most prominent in children (p = 0.002). Conclusions Burn injuries in Kenya show similarities with other LMIC in etiology and pediatric predominance. Late presentation for care and prolonged LOS are areas for further investigation. The web-based database is an effective tool for data collection and international collaboration.

Burns in Tehran: demographic, etiological, and clinical trends

“…This finding matches data from developing countries and differs from data in developed countries, where the largest age group is children aged 2-5 years [3,11]. Males accounted for 72% of patients, which corresponds with most reported studies [9,12,13], although some controversial findings have been published elsewhere [11,14,15]. Overall, 15% of cases of all burns were suicide-related and in 75% of cases women set themselves on fire.…”

Gender differences in burns: A study from emergency centres in the Western Cape, South Africa

“…The higher risk among adult men that has been observed in previous studies from the area regarding severe and fatal burns [8][9][10][11][12]20] was in this setting found in fire burns in younger adult men and in hot liquid burns in older men. The reasons for these gender differences are likely to be multifaceted and connected to different exposures where environment and behaviour interact, falling hardest on men in this resource-constrained setting.…”

“…There are no reported gender differences in burn mechanism [10,16,18,26] and studies examining gender differences in other injury aetiology or care parameters are scarce in SSA. Studies of specific causes have reported gender differences with women overrepresented among burns due to kerosene stove explosions [27] and men among petrol fire disaster victims [28].…”

“…Studies using mortality data [8,9] and those based on inpatient data [10][11][12][13][14] indicate that men are a risk group for burns, as are boys [9,[15][16][17][18]. Inpatient data present gender similarities in Total Body Surface Area (TBSA) burned [11,12,16] and studies considering in-and out-patient data reveal gender similarity in patients of all ages [19][20][21] with a preponderance of boys [22].…”

Comparison of 3 doses of aloe vera and burn drugs in market on burnt rat models

“…[9][10][11] The most observed type of burn is second-degree burn and in order to treat, various types of medicines are available. Aloe vera can also be used for healing burns.…”