The correlation between the burning features, the burning agent and motivation in burn victims attending Shahid Motahari Hospital in Tehran during 2009: letter to editor

Burning is one of the commonest causes of death. Due to the high rate of death among burn victims epidemiological investigation of burning, burning agents and the relevant motivations can be of great preventive value.1 In this cross-sectional study all the hospitalized patients in Shahid Motahari Burn Hospital at Tehran city in the year 2009 were included in the study. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS (ver. 17) software. Out of the 1548 hospitalized patients for burn, 1134 (73.3%) left hospital in good conditions, 47 (3%) left in relatively good conditions, 289 (18.7%) died and 78 (5%) persons left the Hospital satisfactorily on their own volition. About two-thirds of the patients were men. The mean age of the burn victims was 27.9±18.3 years, 16% of them being 5 years old or younger. The highest percentage of burn area was 30% of the total body surface which was seen in 20 to 30-year old patients. 58.7% of burns had been caused by fire. 94% of the burns had happened accidentally, 5% by suicidal and 1% by homicidal acts. The highest percentage of burn was observed in patients in whom the burn agent was fire. Six (4%) persons had first degree, 820 (53%) persons had second degree and 722 (46.6%) had third degree burns. In patients who had committed suicide third degree burns were higher than second degree burns (7.7% vs. 2%). 24.4% of women and 16.6% of men died due to the burns. The rate of death in patients less than 50 years of age was 18% but the figure increased to 24% in those above 50. A burn area less than or more than 10% was, respectively correlated with 2.1% and 22.1% of deaths. 34.8% of the patients with third degree burns and 4.6% of those with second and first degree burns died. 58.3% of the suicidal patient died due to the severity of the burns relative to 16.7% due to other causes. 89 (5.7%) patients had respiratory tract burns and the death rate was 58.4% among these patients while the death rate was 16.2% in patients without respiratory tract involvement. The results of logistic regression analysis revealed that age more than 50 years, female sex, burn area greater than 10% (previous studies 40%), 2 third degree burns, respiratory tract involvement and suicide increased the risk of death in burn patients.