Examination of the Life Expectancy of Patients with Burns over 20% of Their Total Body Surface Area in Comparison to the Rest of the Population

• Published in: Journal of burn care & research Vol. 38; no. 6; p. e906
• Main Authors: Weissman, Oren, Wagman, Yonatan, Givon, Adi, Radomislensky, Irina, Peleg, Kobi, Stavrou, Demetris, Haik, Josef, Tessone, Ariel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.11.2017
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Body Surface Area; Burns - mortality; Burns - pathology; Burns - therapy; Case-Control Studies; Child; Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Israel; Life Expectancy; Male; Middle Aged; Trauma Severity Indices; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1559-0488
• DOI: 10.1097/BCR.0000000000000519

Patients with extensive burn injuries suffer from multisystem trauma, which affects their medical, psychological, and social well-being for many years. Monitoring those patients has revealed changes in the endocrine, cardiac, and respiratory systems years after the injury. Our study tries to examine whether changes manifest as a higher risk of death during their lifespan, compared with the general population. Data from the years 1998 to 2013 regarding two groups of patients was obtained from a national trauma registry: one group had suffered burns over 20% of their TBSA and survived the hospitalization period and the second group was a control group of patients admitted with minimal trauma (Injury Severity Score = 1-minor injury to a single body region). Mortality rates during the posthospitalization period were compared after adjusting for age and follow-up periods. The authors collected 1115 second- or third-degree burn victims with 20% TBSA and 81,688 trauma victims with an Injury Severity Score = 1. Follow-up periods ranged from 8 months to almost 17 years. When comparing the groups after correcting for age, sex, and follow-up period, no significant differences in mortality risk were found. Possible explanations for the lack of differences in mortality risk include the lack of an adequate follow-up period, a misguided research hypothesis (ie, despite existence of physiological changes in burn patients, these changes do not affect the lifespan), or a control group that does not optimally represent mortality in the general population.