THE 1997 CLINICAL RESEARCH AWARD Health Outcome for Burn Survivors

Impaired Generic Health Status But Perception of Good Quality of Life in Survivors of Burn Injury

“…Patients with full thickness facial burn had significantly reduced scores in the Mental Health domain, whereas patients having sustained full thickness foot burns reported significantly lower scores in the Physical Function and the Role Physical domains. Both the present and earlier studies have indicated that there is no simple relationship between the total body surface area burned and generic health, 34,35,39 but in a recent study it was reported that the burn patient SF-36 physical domain composite and the Physical Function domain scores were affected by total surface area burn. 37 Our data suggest, however, that the presence and localization of full thickness injury may be a larger threat to long term generic health than the total body surface area burn.…”

“…38,39 In our study, patient scores in the Mental Health and Vitality did not differ from the norm data, suggesting that feelings of nervousness, depression, tiredness and limitations thereof were comparable in the two groups. 21 However, when subgroup analyses were performed, it was shown that burn patients having psychologic illness had significantly lower scores in the Mental Health and the related domains than the patients having no psychologic disturbance.…”

“…Another possible limitation is the response-rate of 66.4%. This suggests that even though there were no significant differences between the responders and nonresponders with regard to any of the clinical and socio-demographic variables tested, and the population in our opinion is representative, 14,16,20,37,39,40 the possibility of selection bias cannot be completely ruled out. The main strength of this investigation is that general health status and overall quality of life have been documented in the same patient cohort, and because generic and global instruments were used, determinations on how the burn patients compared with population norms could be performed.…”

“…37 The unemployed burn patients reported significantly lower scores in all domains of SF-36 than those working, suggesting that being out of work was associated with impairment of both physical and mental health. 21 Vocational problems have been demonstrated to be of great concern to survivors of burn injury, 38,39 and in studies using burn-specific measures, we and others have shown reduced burn-specific health status in the unemployed. 12,18,19 Consequently, return to work may be considered an important indicator of postburn health, suggesting that vocational counseling should be included in burn rehabilitation programs.…”

Biopsychosocial factors that interfere in the rehabilitation of burn victims: integrative literature review

“…E-V Burn location (40) E-VI Burned body surface (3)(4)6,30,34,38,42,48,(50)(51)(52)(53) ; burns on hands (27,34,38) , on feet (27) , in the face (27,34,48) ; burn location (8,42) ; burn severity (3)(4)6,11,20,22,24,42) ; scars (39) ; facial disfigurement(46); limb amputation (11,46) ; time after injury (30,54) , intolerance to cold (55) , to heat (49,55) ; to sunlight (12,55) , itching (55) , numbness (55) , disfigurement (21,55) , sleeping problems (55) , care dependence (55) ; pain (24,(27)(28)33) ; weakness …”