title: Etiology of childhood burns and parental awareness in Turkey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Burns continue to be a devastating trauma worldwide. Most of the childhood burns are due to preventable injuries. Burns occurring as a result of negligence of the parents'/carers' may cause mortality or life-long morbidities. Identification of the etiologies will direct the precautions that should be undertaken.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred consequent burn patients admitted to our clinics were included to the study. A questionnaire was filled in with the information gathered from the parents/carers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients was 3.74±3.07 years, and 52% was male. Most of the injuries occurred in the noon (median 12:45). Seventy-eight percent of the burns occurred at children's own home. Parents/carers were close enough to prevent the child from injury in 66% of the cases. While there was no first intervention in 21% of burns, 14% applied ice and 1% yoghurt. Taxi was the means to reaching the hospital in 45%. Hot liquids were the leading etiology (p<0.003). Sixty-two percent of the patients were dining at the living room and on the floor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The occurrence of the majority of injuries near parents/carers can be related to inadvertence or lack of awareness. To decrease burns incidence among children in our country, dining at the floor and stove heating should be avoided as much as possible. Not cooling the burn with running tap water at the time of injury leads to deepening of the burn, which consequently makes management more complex. Based on our study, there is an apparent need for determination of preventive measurements and to raise public awareness.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Burns Treatment Center, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: İsa
authors.initials: İ
authors.lastname: Sözen
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Burns Treatment Center, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cem Emir
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Güldoğan
authors.affiliation: Clinic of General Surgery, Burns Treatment Center, Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey; Department of General Surgery, Hitit University School of Medicine, Çorum, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ahmet Çınar
authors.initials: AÇ
authors.lastname: Yastı
keywords: Burn; awareness; child; etiology