An Epidemiologic Study of Patients Presenting with Burns and Scald Injuries to a Government Medical College Hospital in Karnataka

As per the World Health Organization’s Global burden of disease (GBD) estimates in 2004 about 3,10,000 people (30% of them under 20 yrs of age) died due to burn injuries and 237500 in 2013 as per GBD 2013. In terms of years of life lost, deaths/ injuries due to fire ranked 25^th in 1990 and 34^th in 2013. In India, as per data released by National Crime Record Bureau in the year 2013, electrocution and fire accidents were responsible for 2.6% and 5.5% of the total deaths due to accidents respectively. Injury due to burns leads to significant mortality and morbidity, so this study was done with the following objectives. To determine the profile of the victims of burns and scald injuries treated at the MIMS hospital. To quantify the morbidity, mortality due to burns and scalds in patients treated in MIMS hospital. To determine the reasons for burns/ scald injuries among the victims. Methodology: A Cross sectional, hospital based study was done sourcing data from medical records of admitted patients from January 2013 to December 2013. Results and Discussion: The total number of patients admitted with burn injuries during the study period were 217 of which 189 sustained burns/ scald injuries and the remaining sustained electrical burn injuries. 122 were aged between 16-35 yrs. Of the 189 people who sustained burns/ scald injuries 33 were children aged 15 yrs or less. The risk of females sustaining critical burn injuries (>25% body surface area) was statistically significant in adults.