title: Female patients display poorer burn-specific quality of life 12 months after a burn injury.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although gender differences in morbidity and mortality have been measured in patients with moderate to severe burn injury, little attention has been directed at gender effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) following burn injury. The current study was therefore conducted to prospectively measure changes in HRQoL for males and females in a sample of burn patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 114 adults who received treatment at a statewide burns service for a sustained burns injury participated in this study. Instruments measuring generic health status (Short Form 36 Medical Outcomes Survey version 2), burn-specific HRQoL (Burns Specific Health Scale-Brief), psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale) and alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tool) were prospectively measured at 3, 6 and 12 months post-burn.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the 12 months post-injury, female patients showed overall poorer physical (p=0.01) and mental health status (p<0.001), greater psychological distress (p<0.001), and greater difficulty with aspects of burn-specific HRQoL: body image (p<0.001), affect (p<0.001), interpersonal functioning (p=0.005), heat sensitivity (p=0.01) and treatment regime (p=0.01). While significant interaction effects suggested that female patients had more improvement in difficulties with treatment regime (p=0.007), female patients continued to report greater difficulty with multiple aspects of physical and psychosocial health status 12 months post-injury.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Even though demographic variables, injury characteristics and burn care interventions were similar across genders, following burn injury female patients reported greater impairments in generic and burn-specific HRQoL along with psychological morbidity, when compared to male patients. Urgent clinical and research attention utilising an evidence-based research framework, which incorporates the use of larger sample sizes, the use of validated instruments to measure appropriate outcomes, and a commitment to monitoring long-term care, can only improve burn-care.
authors.affiliation: Victorian Adult Burns Service, The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia; Epworth Hospital, Richmond, Australia; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: jason.wasiak@epworth.org.au.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wasiak
authors.affiliation: Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Central Clinical School Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Clinical Haematology Department, The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: Victorian Adult Burns Service, The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Victorian Adult Burns Service, The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Victorian Adult Burns Service, The Alfred, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gabbe
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001830:Body Surface Area; D002056:Burns / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care; D008297:Male; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Burn injury; Gender differences; Health-related quality of life; Post-burn recovery