Childhood acute burn injury and outcome associated factors among patients admitted at Kiruddu National Referral Hospital: A retrospective study.

Abstract

Background: Burns are a significant cause of injury affecting a number of children worldwide, causing significant morbidity and mortality especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, burns lead to physical, social, psychological, and economic consequences for the patients, families, and governments. However, there is paucity of information on the outcome of childhood burn injury and the associated factors among children in Uganda and Kiruddu National Referral Hospital in particular. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of childhood acute burn injury and outcome-associated factors among patients admitted at KNRH. Methods: A retrospective study conducted on children under 18 years old admitted at KNRH from January 2018 to December 2022. Systematic random sampling was used to select 332 files. Data was extracted from the patients’ medical records using data abstraction tool. Data was entered, cleaned and analyzed using STATA v.17. Ethical approval was obtained from Makerere University School of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee, Uganda National Council of Science and Technology and KNRH Administration before study commencement. Results: A total of 332 patient files were reviewed. The prevalence of childhood burns was 28.1%. The mean and standard deviation of their age was 3.8±4 years with 147 (74.3%) less than 5 years old. Male comprised 51.8%; upper limbs were the most affected anatomic location. Scalds (71.4%) were the commonest type of burns and majority were second degree (78.6%). About half of the participants recovered with no complications (n=160, 48.2%) and 50 (15.1%) died. At Multivariate analysis, TBSA: aOR = 1.10 [95%CI: 1.06-1.13, P<0.001], Age group 5-12 years: aOR = 3.51 [95%CI: 1.58-7.78, P=0.002], Blood transfusion: aOR = 4.08 [95%CI: 1.97-8.43, P<0.001] and Oxygen therapy: aOR = 6.10 [95%CI: 1.86-19.96, P=0.003] were significantly associated with increased likelihood of complications while Urban Residence: aOR= 0.22 [95%CI: 0.10-0.50, P<0.001] was associated with reduced complication likelihood. Conclusion: About half of the patients were discharged without complications. The most affected age group was children less than five years of age; the most commonly affected body parts were the upper extremities followed by the anterior trunk and lower limbs; scald was the commonest type of burns followed by flame injuries with majority being second degree burns. TBSA, age group 5-12 years, blood transfusion and oxygen therapy were significantly associated with increased likelihood of poor outcomes, while urban residence was associated with reduced complication likelihood.