Akunuru Kishore Babu, Gurana Krishna Rao, Mallireddy Ramachandra, Dhanya Charita Dwarapureddy, R. Mahalakshmi
BACKGROUND Burn injuries are of global concern. In India, over 10,00,000 people sustain burns every year. Most of them succumb to death, and the rest suffer with varying degrees of morbidity. A better understanding of the burden can help formulate appropriate steps aiming at prevention of these burn injuries. We wanted to study the socio-cultural aspects, causes, modes of injury, and outcome in thermal burn injuries and their preventive aspects. METHODS An elaborate study of 205 patients admitted into burns unit and casualty, Government General Hospital, over a period of two years from June 2016 to June 2018, was done and analyzed accordingly. RESULTS In the study, 67.6% were females, 77.6% were from the rural areas, 76.6% were illiterates, and 69.4% were of class 5 socioeconomic status. Accidental burns were 57.1%, and suicidal burns were 42.9%. Suicides were common between 21 to 40 years age group and mostly were literates and involved more TBSA. Most accidental burns occurred at their residence. Mortality was 73.2% overall and highest in patients with age greater than 60 years and in suicidal than accidental. Mortality was 100% if TBSA was >70%. Most deaths occurred in their 1st to 5th post burn day. The most common bacteria isolated in burn wound culture swab was klebsiella. CONCLUSIONS Personality development programs targeting illiterate females of age group 21 to 40 years can reduce suicidal burns. Patients with injuries involving head and neck and TBSA> 50% should be the priority as they have high mortality. Education regarding safety against dry flame burns, their prevention, and steps used in early control of dry flame burns, can control accidental injuries. Early resuscitation, nutrition, and wound management should be focused on managing burn victims. Deformities and contractures affect the normal functioning of the individual, and every step should be taken to prevent them.
