Water Cooling, Ice Pack Application, and Cold Wet Compress Treatment of Burn Wounds in Children before Admission, Effects on Tissue Healing and Safety Research: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Burn injuries are caused by electricity, heat, radiation, cold, friction, or chemicals and lead to tissue destruction due to energy transfer from the sources to the tissues and cells. The present study aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of water cooling, ice pack application, cold and wet compress treatment of burn wounds in children before admission and to evaluate their effects on tissue healing and safety.

We systematically searched PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, and Embase from inception to March 2023. Review Manager (version 5.4) was used to assess the risk of bias in the selected studies, and a meta-analysis of all dichotomous and continuous outcomes in the selected studies was performed. Out of 590 studies, seven studies based on the PRISMA protocol in the meta-analysis were included.

Based on the duration of cooling, no significant differences in the depth and size of burn wounds were found. Moreover, we established that cooling burn wounds significantly reduces tissue damage and limits the spread of burns to the surrounding tissues. A higher heterogeneity was observed in the selected studies based on methodology, implying different designs affecting our findings.

There is inconclusive evidence on the recommended optimum duration of cooling burn wounds. However, cooling burn wounds has a beneficial impact on reducing tissue damage and limiting the spread of burns.