title: Four years of burn injuries in a Red Cross hospital in Afghanistan.
abstract: This study examines the epidemiology and mortality of patients admitted with burns to a Red Cross hospital in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2000. Three hundred and eighty-eight cases were reviewed retrospectively (57% male, 43% female) with a median age of 8 years. Sixty-three percent were children. Scalds (44%) were the commonest injury followed by fire (37%). The median total body surface area burned (TBSA) was 15%. Forty-six percent of the patients required surgical debridement and 11% underwent delayed skin grafting. Overall, median duration of stay was 7 days. The mortality rate was 16% (M:F, 1.1:1) and fire was the commonest cause of fatal burns. The median TBSA of fatal burn was 40%. There were no survivors with burns greater than 45% TBSA. Multiple organ failure and sepsis were the cause for most of the deaths.
authors.affiliation: International Committee of the Red Cross, 19 Avenue de la Paix, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland. frcalder@hotmail.com
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Calder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000346:Afghanistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012011:Red Cross; D015996:Survival Rate; D013997:Time Factors