ABSTRACT
It has been reported that the cause of burn is an important factor in the determination of prognosis and outcome. Due to different results of various centers, we conducted this study to determine the relationship between cause of burn and outcomes including rate of infection, costs and mortality in Zare Hospital. This prospective study, has been preformed on 113 patients from September 2006 to April 2007. The inclusion criteria were ages more than 10 years old and partial thickness or full thickness burn. Based on the clinical situation of patients, appropriate samples, such as swab, tissue biopsy, urine, blood and sputum were obtained. The relationship between cause of burns and different variables, including demographic data, infections, costs and mortality have been assessed by Chi-square test. Flame injury was the most common type of burn [53.2% cases]. Burn percent and days stayed in the hospital were 30.6 +/- 21.2% and 21.6 +/- 11.9 days, respectively. These variables were significantly higher in the patients with flame injury. The mean antibiotics and total cost of patients were 9834102 +/- 11818945 and 24301863 +/- 18872089 Rials. Electricity was the cause of burns in 11.5% of patients. The overall mortality was 29.3%. However, it was significantly different in patients with various causes of burns. Inappropriate outcomes in patients with flame injury were much severe and more common than other causes. There was a relationship between the cause of burn and demographic and psychosocial variables such as sex, marital status, residency, educational state, suicide intent and past medical history of patients