445 Dangerous Foods: Etiology of Cooking-Related Burn Injuries Requiring Admission to a Burn Unit

Up to one third of burn injuries result from cooking accidents, but there is limited literature on this subject. The particular types of foods associated with burn injuries requiring inpatient admission have not been previously described. We seek to enumerate those foods associated with more severe burns in order to target education about cooking safety in our community. Institutional review board approval was obtained and a retrospective review of burn admissions was performed from 1/1/2013 to 6/19/2017. Our burn database was reviewed and injuries directly related to cooking were identified. Data collected included age, gender, type of food that caused the injury, %TBSA, operative interventions, and length of stay. Exclusion criteria for this study included outpatient management (ED and clinic management) and patients in whom a causative agent was not identified. Of the 1,021 inpatient charts screened, reviewed, 40 patients were included for study. Those excluded were all non-cooking related injuries as well as injuries from unspecified causes. The mean age was 44 years old, with a male predominance (62.5%). Overall average TBSA was 6.6%, LOS 6.6 days, and 73% required at least one surgery. The majority of burns were due to cooking French fries (32%) and fried chicken (22%). Fried dough was a surprising etiology (7%). A smaller number of patients were injured while cooking turkey, vegetables, fish, and pork (1% each). Onion rings, spaghetti, marshmallows, empanadas, sausage, steak, and gravy were minor etiologies in the study (0.5% each). The need for surgical intervention was particularly pronounced in the French fry and fried chicken groups. Ten of the 13 French fry burns required skin grafting (83.3%), as did 7 of the 9 fried chicken burns (87.5%). Percentage TBSA was greatest with: turkey (23.0%), sausage (20%), spaghetti (14%), French fries (6.4%), and chicken (6.6%). Cooking related burn injuries account for a number of the burn injuries seen at our burn center. The total number of patients included in our study was limited by the database, as the actual food being prepared was often not noted. We did ascertain, however, that a large share of those patients studied were injured while cooking French fries and fried chicken. The vast majority of injuries were related to grease or hot oil. A concerted effort should be made to educate the general public regarding cooking safety of these items, specifically in the context of the preparation and technique of frying these foods. Applicability of Research to Practice: Elucidating the specific causes of food-related burn injury allows for targeted education for burn prevention. Raising awareness of the specific dangers of French fry and fried chicken cookery may help to decrease the incidence of burn injury.