title: Epidemiology of burn injuries at a newly established burn care center in rasht.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Advances in the care of burn injuries have resulted from the efforts of regional patient-based specialist teams at burn care centers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We conducted this study to assess the four-year epidemiology of burn injuries in Rasht, Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, medical records of 2274 burn patients, treated at Velayat hospital from January 2007 to December 2010 in Rasht, Iran, were assessed. Age, sex, level of education, occupation, severity and degree of burn, burn surface area, burn cause and outcome of patients were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In our study the overall mortality rate was 8.7%; 65.7% of patients were men and 34.3% were women. Mean age of patients was 31.47 ± 22.67 years. Mean Total Burn Surface Area (TBSA) was 15.24 ± 18.4. Lowest TBSA was 0.5% and highest TBSA was 100%. Significant associations were observed between age (P = 0.0001), place of residence (P = 0.004), level of education (P = 0.0001), unemployment (P = 0.0001), marital status (P = 0.021), causes of burn (P = 0.0001), TBSA (P = 0.0001) and mortality rate. In our study, no significant difference was observed between age and sex (P = 0.071).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Due to high prevalence of burn injuries in Iran, increasing the level of awareness of the society as well as adhering to safety procedures both at home and workplace is recommended via implementing effective national safety policies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, Faculty of Medicine, Gilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Cyrus Emir
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Alavi
authors.affiliation: Burn Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Hamid
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Salehi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Gilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tolouei
authors.affiliation: Students' Scientific Research Center (SSRC), Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Koosha
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Paydary
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Gilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Pirouz
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Samidoust
authors.affiliation: Burn Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mobayen
keywords: Burns; Epidemiology; Iran