Changing Epidemiology and Outcome of Pediatric Thermal Burn Injury in South Western Nigeria

Abstract

The pediatric age group has been noted to be particularly vulnerable to burn injuries. Burn is the fifth most common cause of childhood injuries. Nigeria has a very young population with a median age of 18.1 years. Scald is the most common form of burn injuries in this age group globally; however, previous reports from our institution found flame to be the most common form of burn in pediatric age. The most recent report from 13 years ago still maintained flame as the most common cause of pediatric burn injury. This study was carried out to determine the changes in epidemiology and outcome of pediatric thermal burn injury. This was a retrospective study carried out between January 2013 and December 2022. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences software version 23. The significance was set at a P-value of .05. Two hundred and sixty-five children presented with thermal burn with a male-to-female ratio of 1.3:1. 63.4% occurred in children 0-5 years. Scald (59.6%) was the most common cause of injury. Most flame injuries in females were due to liquified petroleum gas cookstove explosion, while petrol explosion was the most common cause in males (P ≤ .001). There is a yearly increase in burn depth (P = .009). Most inhalation injuries occurred in those aged 11-16 years (P = .006). Mortality rate was 10.2%, with total body surface area burned (P ≤ .001), burn depth (P ≤ .001), and inhalation injury (P ≤ .001) associated with increasing mortality. Scald is now the most common cause of thermal burn in our institution, with a remarkable reduction in mortality rate.