title: Burn mortality during 1982 to 1997 in Kuwait.
abstract: The study group is comprised of 234 patients (6.4%) who died out of 3680 patients treated for burn injuries during the period January 1982 to December 1997 in Kuwait. There were 112 (47.9%) males and 122 (52.1%) females and their mean age was 30 years (range 1-93) when compared with 24 years among survivors. The high mortality amongst two age groups 0-5 years (39 deaths, 16.7%) and 16-35 years (109 deaths, 46.6%) shows their vulnerability in the society. In 190 patients (81.2%) the burn injuries occurred at home. A total of 216 patients (92.3%) sustained flame burns mainly due to clothes on fire (40.6%) and cooking gas accidents (25.2%), and in 18 patients (7.7%) the burns were due to scalds. The suicidal burns occurred in 22 female and 5 male patients mainly of younger age groups. The mean percentage of burns was 71% (range 9-100%) as against 20% amongst survivors, and 195 patients (83.3%) had > or = 50% total body surface area (TBSA) burn. Four patients (1.7%) had superficial dermal burns, 94 (40.2%) had full thickness and 136 (58.1%) had mixed with full thickness burns predominance. The associated inhalation injury was diagnosed in 132 patients (56.4%). A total of 61 patients (26.1%) had either single or multiple pre-existing diseases and 51 of them sustained flame burns. The day of death varied from 1 to 103 days (mean 16 days) but 58 patients (24.8%) died within 48 hours of post burn. A total of 120 patients (51.3%) died due to septicaemia, 83 (35.5%) due to renal failure, 28 (10.2%) due to multi-organ failure, and 7 (3.0%) due to bronchopneumonia. The overall mortality rate was 6.4%, but this has significantly lowered to 4.4% (p = < 0.01) during last four years probably due to better burn care. The study thus shows that age group 0-5 and 16-35 years, domestic accidents, flame burn, inhalation injury, and pre-existing diseases are risk factors and septicaemia as the dominant cause of death in our patients.
authors.affiliation: AI-Babtain Centre for Plastic Surgery & Burns, Ibn Sina Hospital, Kuwait. rameshwar@hsc.kuniv.edu.kw
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Gang
authors.forename: I E
authors.initials: IE
authors.lastname: Ghoneim
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ebrahim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002056:Burns / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis