a profile of hospital-admitted paediatric burns patients in south africa一个概要文件的医院公布儿科烧伤患者在南非.pdfVIP

Parbhoo et al. BMC Research Notes 2010, 3:165 /1756-0500/3/165 S HO RT REPORT Open Access Short Report A profile of hospital-admitted paediatric burns patients in South Africa 1 1 2 Asha Parbhoo , Quinette A Louw* and Karen Grimmer-Somers* Abstract Background: Injuries and deaths from burns are a serious, yet preventable health problem globally. This paper describes burns in a cohort of children admitted to the Red Cross Childrens Hospital, in Cape Town, South Africa. This six month retrospective case note review looked at a sample of consecutively admitted patients from the 1 st April 2007 to the 30 th September 2007. Information was collected using a project-specific data capture sheet. Descriptive statistics (percentages, medians, means and standard deviations) were calculated, and data was compared between age groups. Spearmans correlation co-efficient was employed to look at the association between the total body surface area and the length of stay in hospital. Findings: During the study period, 294 children were admitted (f= 115 (39.1%), m= 179 (60.9%)). Hot liquids caused 83.0% of the burns and 36.0% of these occurred in children aged two years or younger. Children over the age of five were equally susceptible to hot liquid burns, but the mechanism differed from that which caused burns in the younger child. Conclusion: In South Africa, most hospitalised burnt children came from informal settlements where home safety is a low priority. Black babies and toddlers are most at risk for sustaining severe burns when their environment is disorganized with respect to safety. Burns injuries can be prevented by improving the home environment and socio- economic living conditions through the he