ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: A burn injury is not only a life-threatening problem for the injured patient but may have serious physical, psychological and financial effects on the individual, the patient's family and society. Despite the high frequency of factors predisposing to burns, preventive measures are few, with a virtual absence of educational campaigns for the population. Thus, the epidemiologic data of patients would be of benefit for the region. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to understand burn injuries and to plan effective postburn management. METHODS: We reviewed and analyzed the records of 593 cases of burn patients who were admitted to the department of general surgery in Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital from May 1999 to April 2000. RESULTS: Males were more affected than females ; 69.1% were males and 30.9% were females. The 31-45 age group had the highest rate of burns (36.5%). The most common burn type was by flame burn injury (59.9%), followed by scalding burn injury (24.0%). In 49.6% of the cases, the extent of the burned surface was under 20%. The number of deaths in this study was 39 patients (6.6% of total burn patients). The most frequent cause of death was sepsis (51.2%), followed by ARDS (20.6%), and burn shock (17.9%). When 51-60% of the surface area was burned, the mortality was 16.7%, when over 61% of the surface area was burned, the mortality was 41.4%. CONCLUSION: It is evident that the best approach to rectifying the harm caused by burn injury is prevention.