title: In the media: Burns as a method of assault.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aims of this study were to determine whether a change occurred in the pattern of assault burn injury cases hospitalised to the adult state burns unit, Western Australia, from 2004 to mid-year of 2012, and to compare patient and burn characteristics of adult assault burns with those admitted for unintentional burns.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study data were obtained from the Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) Burns Minimum Dataset (BMDS). Aggregated data of unintentional burn admissions during the same period were provided by the BMDS data manager to enable comparisons with assault burn patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Assault burn admissions during 2004-2012 accounted for approximately 1% of all adult burn hospitalisations. All assault victims were burned by either thermal or scald agents. A high rate of intubation (24%) and ICU admission (1 in 3 cases) was observed in the fire assault group. The six assault cases undergoing intubation were severe burns, median TBSA 50%, most commonly affecting the face, head and torso, half of these cases had inhalational injuries and also required escharotomies. Comparison of admissions by calendar period showed no statistically significant differences in demographic, burn cause or TBSA%. However, statistically significant differences were found for pre-morbid psychiatric history (15% vs. 58%, p=0.025) and concomitant fractures or dislocations (46% vs. 2%), p=0.011).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the proportion of assault burn admissions per total burn admissions steadily increased from 0.4% in 2009 to 1.5% in mid-2012, this proportion did not exceed that peak level observed of 2.1% for 2004.
authors.affiliation: Burn Injury Research Unit, School of Surgery, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia. ohalloranemily@gmail.com
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Halloran
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duke
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rea
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002056:Burns / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D014754:Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014904:Western Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Assault; Burns; Media