Epidemiology of Pediatric Burns Requiring Hospitalization in China: A Literature Review of Retrospective Studies

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. This review was an effort to systematically examine the nationwide data available on pediatric burns requiring hospitalization to reveal burn epidemiology and guide future education and prevention. METHODS. The China Biomedical Disk Database, Chongqing VIP Database, and China Journal Full-Text Database were searched for articles reporting data on children and their burns from January 2000 through December 2005. Studies were included that systematically investigated the epidemiology of pediatric burns requiring hospitalization in China. Twenty-eight articles met the inclusion criteria, all of which were retrospective analyses. For each study included, 2 investigators independently abstracted the data related to the population description by using a standard form and included the percentage of patients with burn injury who were <15 years old; gender and distribution of age; type of residential area; place of injury; distribution of months and time; reasons for burn; anatomical sites of burn; severity of burn; and mortality and cause of death. These data were extracted, and a retrospective statistical description was performed with SPSS11.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL). RESULTS. Of the pediatric patients studied, the proportion of children with burn injury ranged from 22.50% to 54.66%, and the male/female ratio ranged from 1.25:1 to 4.42:1. The ratio of children aged ≤3 years to those >3 years was 0.19:1 to 4.18:1. The rural/urban ratio was 1.60:1 to 12.94:1. The ratio of those who were burned indoors versus outdoors was 1.62 to 17.00, and there were no effective hints on the distribution of seasons and anatomical sites of burn that could be found. The peak hours of pediatric burn were between 17:00 and 20:00. Most articles reported the sequence of reasons as hot liquid > flame > electricity > chemical, and scalding was, by far, the most predominant reason for burn. The majority of the studies reported the highest proportion involved in moderate burn, and the lowest proportion was for critical burn. The mortality rate ranged from 0.49% to 9.08%, and infection, shock, and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome were the most common causes of death. CONCLUSIONS. Considering the national proportion of children, a high proportion of hospitalized patients with burn injury were children; those who were male, aged ≤3 years, and lived most of the time indoors were especially susceptible. Great attention should be paid when hot water is used or during suppertime. This compilation and analysis of hospitalization-based information has proved useful in establishing the rational priorities for prevention; a family-school-factory-government mode of preventive strategy has come into being and was performed effectively.