Prognostication of the development of septic complications in children with burn injuries

Abstract

Aim: To determine the prognostic criteria for the development of septic complications in children with thermal injury. Materials and Methods: A single-center retrospective-prospective cohort study included a retrospective analysis of 98 medical histories of children of different ages with severe burns who were treated from 2007 to 2017. A prospective study was conducted among children (n=63) from 1 to 5 years old, who received various degrees severity burn injury, according to an open comparative method in the period from 2018 to 2021. Results: Indicators of a high risk of developing sepsis were burns by flames of any etiology, damage severity index ≥75 units, total burn surface ≥25 %, deep burn area ≥ 5%. The threshold value of procalcitonin (PCT) ≥ 0.86 ng/ml on the 1st-3rd day and PCT > 0.51 ng/ml on the 7th day of burn disease, had a prognostic value for assessing the probability of sepsis. On the 1st day of hospitalization, the development of sepsis was predicted if the C-reactive protein (CRP) value was higher than 6.98 ng/ml, on the 3rd – the CRP level was above 7.43 ng/ml, on the 7th day – above 7.28 ng/ml. Conclusions: Based on the obtained data, we selected the criteria with the best prognostic characteristics, which allows us to predict and prevent the development of sepsis in the early stages of burn disease in children.