The epidemiology of patients with burn injuries admitted to Norwegian hospitals in 2007.
OBJECTIVE
To study the incidence and outcome of burns in Norway in 2007, and to establish estimates for effective length of stay, mortality and economical costs.


METHODS
Data from the Norwegian Patient Registry on all patients discharged from all somatic hospitals in Norway in 2007 with main or subsidiary diagnosis of burn injury (ICD-10: T20-31) were collected.


RESULTS
Seven hundred and twenty-six patients (65.0% male) with acute burns were admitted to Norwegian hospitals in 2007, requiring 8157 in-hospital days and resulting in a mean length of hospitalization per burn case of 11.3 days (S.D. 15.2). The mean age of the patients was 26.9 years (S.D. 25.5), and the mortality was 2.1%. For children below 5 years of age the incidence of burns admitted to hospital was 82.5/100,000/year. The annual total cost for in-hospital burn care exceeded 10.5 million euros (2,200,000 euros/million inhabitants)


CONCLUSIONS
Compared to similar data from Norway (1992) the rate of admission for burns in 2007 (15.5/100,000/year) appeared as high as in 1992, whereas the mean length of stay was reduced by 26%. Children under the age of 5 had a seven times higher incidence compared the rest of the population.
Onarheim
Henning
H
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Haukeland University Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway. henning.onarheim@helse-bergen.no
Jensen
Svein Arthur
SA
Rosenberg
Bjørn Erik
BE
Guttormsen
Anne Berit
AB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult