The Medicolegal Aspects of Burn Cases Admitted to Assiut University Hospitals During Years of 2015 and 2016

Abstract

Background: Burns are not uncommon in Egypt, for successful prevention of such accidents it is essential to analyze the medicolegal aspects of these cases. The present study was conducted in Assiut university hospitals. Burn cases that were admitted to the emergency units during years of 2015 and 2016 were retrospectively analyzed from the available records. Purpose: to investigate medicolegal aspects and demography of burn cases presented in emergency units at Assiut University Hospitals during years 2015 and 2016 to identify vulnerable personnel, and to evaluate their outcomes. Methods: A retrospectives study analyzing data from the records between 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2016. Data regarding age, gender, type of burn, percentage of body surface area involved in burn, hospital stay of victims, fate of cases, and survival period of deceased victims was collected and analyzed using SPSS. Results: The study revealed male predominance, 258 (75.26%) male victims out of total 380 victims. The mean age for victims was 15.57 years with most of the victims (52.89%) of burn were between the ages of 0 to 10 years, the minim age was 2 months while the maximum age was 73 years. Hot liquids and flame were the commonest causes of burn. 77.11% of burns in children age less than 11 years were due to hot liquids. The highest percentage of cases of burn was found in winter (29.2%). 32.89% of victims were students. The mean of hospital stay was 8.29 days. 17.63 % of burn victims admitted during these two years died. Conclusions: Male victims represent most burn patients with children being more vulnerable. Preventive measures against burns should be taken in order to prevent burns particularly in children.

Study of Medicolegal Aspects of Burnt Cases Admitted to Burn Unit, Assiut university Hospitals: retrospective study

“…Scald was the most common cause of burn among infants which may be due to carless behavior, while flame was the most common of cause of burn injuries among adult and elderly because of their uses of domestic gas stoves in addition to their occupational exposure to burn injuries. This was in agreement with George & Abdellah (2017).…”

“…Children are more susceptible to the effects of scalds and acquire more damage at lower temperatures than adults due to their thinner skin. This result was consistent with Arslan et al (2013) and George & Abdellah (2017). This was opposite to the findings of Kandeel (2019) who reported that flame was the major cause of burn as many areas of Menoufia governorate are still have no domestic gas systems and still dependent on portable gas cylinders which lack safety measures.…”

Cell free DNA as a biomarker in medicolegal assessment in burn patients

“…This was in agreement with Hashish and Abdel-Karim (2017) [21]. On the other hand, Wardhana and colleagues (2017) [22] and George and Abdellah (2017) [23] found that most burn cases presented with third degree burns and first-degree burns represented the lowest percentage of cases. This finding can be rationalized by the fact that most first and superficial second-degree burns are treated in outpatient clinics and do not require hospital admission [24].…”

Medicolegal Aspect Analysis of Burn Cases in Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad

“…This may be due to the fact that infants display careless behavior and adults in addition to their occupational exposure to burn injuries, make use of domestic gas stoves. (5,18,19) The current study also revealed that over two third (79.4%) of burns occurred at home. This could be attributed to the fact that the vast majority of burnt victims in the present study were children who spent the majority of their days at home and were at high risk of burn injury.…”