title: A study of burn injuries in the elderly in a regional burn centre.
abstract: We evaluated the epidemiology and outcome of 94 elderly burn patients of age 60 years or older treated in a local burn centre over a period of 6 years. There were 44 males and 50 females with a male to female ratio of 0.88 and an average age of 73.8+/-9 years. The mean extent of burn was 13.3+/-18.4% total body surface area (TBSA) with 14 patients (15%) suffering from a burn size >20% TBSA. The vast majority of injuries (90%) occurred at home. Scalds resulted in 62 admissions (66%) and flame burns accounted for another 29 admissions (31%). The burns predominantly involved the extremities and the trunk. Four patients had inhalation injuries and required admission to the Intensive Care Unit for ventilatory support. The majority of patients (60%) did not require any operations. The mean hospital stay of the survivors was 30.1+/-34.1 days and 35% of them stayed less than 2 weeks. Fifty-five patients (59%) had at least one pre-existing medical problem requiring long-term medication and 41 patients (44%) were living alone. Sixty-three patients (67%) presented more than 8 h after the burn injuries and 34 patients (36.2%) had no first aid treatment of their burn wounds. In addition, 40 patients (42.5%) had their wounds treated inappropriately. Seven patients died in this series which yielded a mortality rate of 7.4%. The outcomes of early versus late excision and grafting were also analyzed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. hows@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: S Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002053:Burn Units; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged