title: Paediatric sunburn: the experience of an Australian paediatric burns unit.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The number of hospital presentations and admissions for treatment of sunburn remains significant, despite efforts to educate the public regarding sun protection. Current literature chiefly examines public health campaigns and sun protection behaviours and attitudes. There are very few articles that explore paediatric sunburn requiring hospital presentation. This study was therefore undertaken to provide a snapshot of this issue and to identify patterns and causative factors in the development of severe sunburn requiring hospital presentation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected for retrospective analysis from case records of patients who presented with sunburn and were registered on the Burns Service database at the Women's and Children's Hospital in South Australia. This study includes patients who presented during the period of October 2006 to March 2011.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 81 cases identified over the period of 2006-2011 from the Burns database that had sufficient information for the purpose of this study. Factors such as outdoor activity and water sports were predictably apparent, with patients being burned on days with extremely high ultraviolet ratings. Key patterns that emerged were location of sunburn and sun protection use, which were gender and age specific.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Larger-scale studies are warranted to further delineate the contributing factors and to identify the specific populations of children at risk of sunburn. Future educational programmes can therefore target these subgroups and behaviours for effective prevention of sunburn. Tailored campaigns that address these factors may be of greater impact in reducing hospital presentations and admissions of significant sunburn.
authors.affiliation: Burns Service, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. latifa.mah@health.wa.gov.au
authors.forename: Latifa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mah
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Giovine
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sparnon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002053:Burn Units; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D013471:Sunburn / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D013473:Sunscreening Agents; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D013473:Sunscreening Agents
keywords: hospitals; paediatrics; sunburn