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Aging and burn: A five-year retrospective study in a major burn centre in Portugal

2018; Elsevier BV; Volume: 61; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.rehab.2018.05.140

1877-0665

Pedro Francisco dos Santos Caetano, Carla Figueiredo Brandão, A. Pascoal, I Campos, Luís Cabral, Ming Tao, Jorge Laíns,

Disaster Response and Management

Aging is an important factor that contributes to the clinical outcome of burn patients. The aim of this study was to examine the characteristics of patients admitted to a Burn Unit with the diagnosis of burn injury and to determine the impact of age on mortality. We made a retrospective analysis of successive patients admitted in a major burn centre in Portugal since 1/1/2012 until 31/12/2016. They were divided into 2 groups: "elderly" (≥65 years) and "non-elderly" (<65 years). The variables analysed were: demographic data, clinical presentation, complications and mortality. Seven hundred and thirty-six patients were included, 324 classified as elderly with a mean age of 78.12 ± 7.14 years. Most of the patients in the elderly group were females (59.6%), in contrast to the non-elderly group (35%) (P < 0.001 OR = 2.74). The elderly patients had a higher mean LOS (20.14 ± 18.46 days vs. 16.89 ± 16.61 days on the "non-elderly" group) (P = 0.01). Most of the burns were caused by fire (58.3%) and boiling liquid (36.1%) and mainly after domestic accidents (96.1%). Elderly patients showed a higher mean of burn severity index (7.26 vs. 5.57) (P < 0.001) and 7.5% needed an amputation during hospitalization (vs. 4.1%) (P = 0.076). The mortality rate was significantly higher in the elderly group (11.7% vs. 3.4%) (P = 0.001 OR = 3.52). We found that elderly patients with inhalator injury (P < 0.001 OR = 6.87), 3rd burns (P < 0.001 OR = 11.76), burn by fire (P < 0.001 OR = 10.00) and who required mechanical ventilation (P < 0.001 OR = 12.23) have a higher mortality risk and reached statistical significance after a multivariate analysis. Burns in elderly had different clinical characteristics being an important epidemiological problem. The functional and vital prognosis of patients admitted to a burn centre are affected by multiple factors. Our study showed that age, 3rd burns, inhalator injury, burn by fire and need for mechanical ventilation seem to increase the risk of mortality.