Traumatic Brain Injury in Child Burn

BACKGROUND Burns are one of the most important health problems in communities. Traumatic injuries, especially Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) associated with burns, may increase disability and mortality. In addition to preventing burns, any action for a better treatment approach and early detection of concomitant traumatic injuries can reduce complications, disability, and treatment costs. We aimed to investigate the outcome of children with burn injury with and without TBI. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 392 children with burn injuries treated at Motahari Hospital in Tehran, Iran from 2018-2019 were enrolled. Patient demographics, burn injury information and TBI-related information including head trauma and fracture were recorded in a checklist. Patients were divided into two groups of death (24 people) or discharge (368 people) in terms of outcome and the underlying variables were compared in the two groups. RESULTS There was no significant difference between the mean age of patients and gender in the two groups. The difference in the length of hospital stay, inhalation injury and skull fracture in the two groups was not statistically significant. The mean burn severity based on Total Body Surface Area (TBSA) and the frequency of TBI in the deceased group was significantly higher (P=0.001). CONCLUSION The severity of burns based on TBSA and TBI is associated with increased mortality among children with burn injuries. The results suggest the need to examine children with burn injuries for TBI using clinical examination or imaging.