title: Hot tar burns: twenty-seven hospitalized cases.
abstract: Between July 1, 1984, and December 31, 1991, 27 consecutive patients required admission to the Grady Memorial Hospital Burn Unit for care of hot tar burns. This group represented 1.4% of all admissions to this burn unit. Injuries occurred at the workplace and occurred mostly during the summer. They most commonly involved the patient slipping while carrying a bucket of hot tar. Ninety-six percent were male. The mean age was 33.7 years. Mean burn size was 13.1% total body surface area. Burn topography centered on the upper extremities and hands. Forty-one percent required a surgical procedure for their burn. Mean hospitalization time for survivors was 16.6 days. The survival rate was 92.6%. Both of the patients who died had large burns and/or preexisting medical problems. Hot tar burns occur under predictable circumstances, appear to be preventable, and have accounted for only a small fraction of all admissions to this burn unit.
authors.affiliation: Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Renz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sherman
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational; D000328:Adult; D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D003252:Construction Materials; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate