[Analysis on the causes of burn among 17,339 patients].
OBJECTIVE
To find out the common causes of burn and to develop preventive measures to prevent or reduce the injury of burn.


METHODS
Descriptive analysis was used to review the burn-cases in our Burn Department from 1970 to 1998 and to summarize the epidemic features and common causes of the injuries.


RESULTS
From 1970 to 1998, a total number of 17 339 inpatients were seen in our Burn Department. According to the causes of injury, burn patients were categorized as heat-injured, electric-injured, chemical-injured, etc. Most patients were injured with heat, taking up 89.11% of the total patients (P < 0.01). Most of the heat-injured patients were scalded with hot water (49.31%, P < 0.01). Children being burnt, accounted for 32.82% of the total patients (P < 0.01), whom should not be ignored.


CONCLUSIONS
Burn happens frequently in daily life, so the preventive methods should be taken seriously.
Xiao
H
H
Burn Department, the Third Hospital of Wuhan, Wuhan 430060, China.
Xie
T
T
Lin
L
L
Liu
S
S
Wu
J
J
Fang
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged