title: Quality-of-life loss of people admitted to burn centers, United States.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate quality-of-life loss per serious burn survivor in a large U.S. cohort.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal functional assessments of all 1,587 people receiving primary treatment in 5 burn centers between 2000 and 2009 included pre-burn (retrospective), at time of discharge, and 6, 12, and 24 months post-injury. We assessed adults with RAND Short Form (SF) 12 and children with SF-10 or Child Health Questionnaire, the child surveys scored using standard norms-based scoring. A literature review identified 20 quality-adjusted life year utility scorings for SF-12 and 27 scorings for EQ-5d response distributions predicted from SF-12 scores. We computed composite scores for each patient and time period by applying 32 scorings that met quality/non-duplication criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean quality-of-life scores were 0.805 4 weeks pre-burn, 0.562 at discharge, rebounded through 1 year, and stabilized at 0.735 (0.750 for TBSA burned below 25 %, 0.722 for TBSA burned of 25-50 %, and 0.695 for larger burns). As a percentage of initial levels, burns reduced short-term quality of life by 30 %. Long-term loss averaged 11 %, ranging from 9 % for TBSA burned below 25-13 % for TBSA burned above 50 %. Children recovered faster and more fully.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Burns cause substantial losses in quality of life, with long-term losses comparable to traumatic brain injury.
authors.affiliation: Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Calverton, MD, USA, miller@pire.org.
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Soma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhattacharya
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zamula
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lezotte
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kowalske
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Herndon
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fauerbach
authors.forename: Loren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Engrav
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002053:Burn Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002056:Burns / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017741:Survivors; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States