Pediatric Burns: A Decade Later

Abstract

The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario serves as a regional pediatric burn centre for metropolitan Toronto and the province of Ontario. The demographics and outcomes of the admissions of burn patients are reviewed periodically to help in future planning of resources and preventive strategies. This study was designed to review recent admissions and detect trends of the past decade by comparing admission and outcome data from two cohorts: one from 1986 to 1988 and one from 1977 to 1979. The number of admissions increased during the past decade. There was a lower proportion of patients with flame burns and a higher proportion with scald burns. This may be due to a combination of preventive measures and changing demographics. The overall mortality rate decreased from 2.2% in the previous decade to 0.78% in the past decade.