Epidemiology and treatment of severe burns in the intensive care unit of Zagreb Children’s hospital from 2003 to 2008

Abstract

Zagreb Children’s Hospital is the institution in which most children with burns are treated in Croatia. Analysis over a six-year period revealed that on average one child with a severe burn is treated per month in the intensive care unit (ICU). Here we present the distribution of patients according to age, sex, cause of burn, surface area and regions of the body affected, as well as some indicators of how demanding intensive care and surgical treatment of these patients is. Within the timeframe analysed, over 60% of children were in the age group up to 5 years old and were most frequently scalded by boiling water in their family home in the presence of adults, but lacking their supervision. In the group over 10 years of age, boys were more frequently burned than girls and it would occur while playing outdoors. Burns were equally distributed among all regions of the body in severely burned patients. Over 60% of children had burns covering 10%-30% of their body surface. There were 4 children (5.6%) with burns covering over 70% of their body surface. The average length of stay in the ICU was 0.61 days per percent of affected body surface, while the overall average length of stay in the hospital was 2.05 days per percent of affected body surface. The purpose of this study is to warn about the relatively high number of children receiving severe burns in the earliest period of life and in the family home, and to discuss the complexities and demands of treating these patients in the ICU and on the ward.