The Epidemiological Assessment of Burn Injuries in Children Admitted to Mottahari Hospital, Tehran, 2009-2010

Introduction & Burn Injuries and Complications are still considered major threats to societies health standards. They are categorized as the most important reasons for child mortality and debility in Iran and also other countries; imposing physical, spiritual, social and economical injuries on patients, families and society. In order to decrease burn rate, prevent it and develop efficient strategies; we study burn epidemiological characteristics in this research. This descriptive and cross sectional survey was performed over a one-year-period among burned children admitted to Mottahari Hospital of Tehran. The subjects were 100 patients who were younger than 15 years old. Information was collected through questioners and through interviews with the patients and their companions. Analysis was carried out, using SPSS statistical analysis software and descriptive statistics. The highest incidence of burn injury was in the 1 to 3 year old group (72%). Their mean age was 3.28±2.83 and male to female ratio was 1.9:1 was 1.9:1. The most common environment in which burn injury occurred was their homes (96%).Ninety-eight percent of the burned were house wives. The most common education level of the mothers (94%) and the fathers (92%) were less than high school diploma. Forty-two percent of the fathers were workers and the average family income in 81% of the cases was estimated to be less than 3/ 000/ 000 Iranian Rials. Fifty five percent were urban people and the most common cause of burn was boiling water (66%). The most frequent areas of barns were the head and the neck, the upper limb and the upper trunk (25%). The total body burn surface area (TBSA) was less than 21% and 44-65% in 58% and 10% of the cases respectively. According to the results of this study, it seems that education of parents and children are essential to prevent burn accidents and there fore to decrease burn injuries and physical, social and economical burn complications.